ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agricultural Chemicals

Paul Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking following the meeting on 6 January between her Department's Ministers and industry and other representatives to ensure compatibility of chemicals used in agriculture and horticulture with the regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH); what consultation has taken place with farming organisations; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: To ensure compatibility of regulation, the REACH proposal allows for certain substances to be exempt or considered as automatically registered where environmental or human health protection is already adequately covered by existing regimes such as for pesticides, biocides and veterinary medicines. Discussions have therefore focused on those industry sectors and uses most likely to be affected by the proposals, such as manufacturers of industrial chemicals, and we have not been approached by farming organisations to discuss REACH.
	We will shortly issue a public consultation paper, which will offer all interested parties, including farming organisations, a further opportunity to provide us with their views. There are also plans to hold a stakeholder conference during the consultation period.

Chemical Regulation

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which Council of Ministers formation her Department has called on to lead the debate on the forthcoming EU chemical regulation.

Alun Michael: Given the wide-ranging nature of the forthcoming EU chemical regulation, the Government have always considered it essential that the expertise of both the Competitiveness Council and the Environment Council would be needed in coming to decisions on the regulation on registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals.
	Following the decision of the Italian presidency to ask the Competitiveness Council to lead this debate, we welcome the formation of an ad-hoc working group between the two as a way to enable this wide input to detailed policy discussions. Such an approach is essential if we are to make good progress with this long awaited legislation. I recently visited Brussels to discuss the issues with parliamentarians and the Environment Commission's team and in the UK Ministers at Defra and DTI are working closely with each other and with both industry and non-governmental organisations to give the Commission's latest proposals the best possible scrutiny from all perspectives.

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire.

Alun Michael: The information is as follows:
	(a) Defra has 734 staff working in the West Midlands. A further 147 Defra Executive Agency staff work in this Region.
	(b) Neither Defra nor any of its Agencies has offices in North Staffordshire.

Fisheries

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which other European Union member states' fishing vessels will have to comply with the restricted areas in EU waters due to commence on 1 February.

Ben Bradshaw: All those which choose to fish in the restricted areas using the specified gears.

Information Campaigns

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Department spent on information campaigns and advertising in 2002–03.

Alun Michael: The Department does not maintain records of its expenditure on marketing separately. The expenditure for publicity by Defra's Communications Directorate, which includes advertising, publications, events, shows and direct information literature mailings, in the financial year 2002–03 was £4.7 million.
	This included communication on a very wide range of matters, much of it necessary or beneficial to the public and the wide range of industries in which Defra has an interest, together with local government, voluntary organisations and other bodies.

Teesside Power Station

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has carried out into the health implications of allowing the burning of animal fat from cattle at the Teesside power station, Witton.

Elliot Morley: The Environment Agency is currently determining a permit application under the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 from SembCorp Utilities Teesside Limited who operate the Teesside power station. The company plans to burn tallow that is currently held in storage as a result of the Over Thirty Month (Slaughter) Scheme (OTMS).
	The Agency has produced an OTMS Tallow Protocol that provides guidance to Agency Officers and operators on the determination procedure for applications to burn OTMS tallow. The Protocol states that the Operator must provide an environmental risk assessment of their proposals, including the risks of burning, handling, filtration, and any other pathways by which potential BSE infectivity might affect human health or the environment.
	As required by the Regulations, the Agency sent a copy of the operator's application to the local Primary Care Trust. The Agency has received a response on their behalf by the Tees Local Health Protection Unit. The response stated that the information from the application had been considered, together with additional information provided in a report by the European Commission's Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) entitled "The Safety of Tallow Obtained from Ruminant Slaughter By-products" and a "Risk Assessment for the Transport and Combustion of OTMS Tallow" by Det Norske Veritas Limited (DNV). Information had also been provided to the Health Protection Unit by a representative of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC).
	The Tees Local Health Protection Unit response included the conclusions that, on the basis of the information supplied, the risks to individuals contracting vCJD 1 as a result of the transportation to and combustion of the tallow at the power station can be described as being negligible.
	The Environment Agency is considering this response and the additional information provided by the SSC and DNV as part of its determination of the application.
	The Agency is also taking into account UK and European air quality standards and objectives in its determination These are set at levels which are unlikely to cause harm to human health.
	1 vCJD: variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason pesticides still hold provisional approval after five years; what the longest period is for which a pesticide has held provisional approval; and what she estimates the total tonnage used in the UK of pesticides provisionally approved in each category to be in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Alun Michael: All pesticides must meet a minimum standard of safety and efficacy before any approval is given, provisional or otherwise. Provisional approvals are given in order for confirmatory data to be provided for example in areas such as efficacy. The precise requirements and time allowed for the generation of those data vary depending on individual products.
	The product that has held provisional approval status for the longest time was first given that status in 1988. Safe use of the product was established, but confirmatory efficacy data were required for full approval. Consequently, a series of different provisional approvals were issued in response to separate applications for approval concerning changes to the product label and its intended uses.
	The most recent estimates of the total tonnage of all provisionally approved pesticides used in the UK (in 2002) are as follows.
	
		
			 Category Tonnage (active ingredient) 
		
		
			 Fungicides 1,285 
			 Growth regulators 394 
			 Herbicides 3,029 
			 Insecticides 59 
			 Molluscicides 87 
			 Others <1 
			 Total 4,854

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether local authorities will be fully compensated for costs incurred under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive;
	(2)  whether she intends that manufacturers and retailers of electrical goods should contribute to costs incurred by local authorities under the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive;
	(3)  what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of complying with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in relation to (a) start-up costs, (b) storage costs, (c) collection costs and (d) disposal costs.

Stephen Timms: I have been asked to reply.
	The implications of the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) for local authorities, manufacturers, retailers and others are set out in a consultation paper which the Government published on 25 November 2003. This is available at or may be downloaded from the Department's website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/index.htm. Copies are available in the House Library.
	This consultation paper invites views on the Government's preferred approach to implementing the Directive. It includes proposals for implementation of the Directive's provisions on producer responsibility and retailer take-back.
	The WEEE Directive places no obligations on local authorities. The Government have made it clear that there will be no new unfinanced burdens on local authorities as a result of the Directive. However, the Government aims to encourage increased separate collection of WEEE in line with the Directive's objectives and, in this context, it makes sense to build on existing collection activity at civic amenity sites. The Government wishes to encourage local authorities to consider upgrading and/or introducing WEEE collection facilities at their amenity sites. It is proposed that money will be made available, via a fund, into which local authorities may bid to finance improved or greater separate collection of WEEE at their civic amenity sites.
	The consultation suggests that this fund would be provided through a retailer take-back compliance scheme. The Government propose that the retailer scheme should provide funding initially of at least £5 million for civic amenity site upgrades in each of the five financial years between 2005–10, with an interim review in 2008, when the Directive is expected to be revised. It is expected that most of the early expenditure would relate to capital costs and any initial operating costs.
	The Government have included in its consultation package a report by consultants Network Recycling on the scope for upgrading and expanding WEEE collection at civic amenity sites around the UK. In summary, this report indicates that over half of civic amenity sites currently collect some WEEE and that there is significant scope for expanding this on the basis of site space available. It suggests that the baseline costs of such upgrades are in the region of £6-£12 million, depending on the approach taken; and that on-going staffing and training costs could be in the region of £4–£9 million per annum.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Pre-legislative Scrutiny

Graham Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what recent discussions he has had with Government Departments and Select Committee Chairmen on the programme for pre-legislative scrutiny; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: My right hon. Friend has regular meetings with Ministerial colleagues to discuss the legislative programme, including the programme for pre-legislative scrutiny. He met the Liaison Committee to discuss pre-legislative scrutiny, among other matters, on 11 November; and he wrote to all Committee Chairmen with a provisional list of draft bills for the current session shortly after the Queen's Speech.

Sitting Hours

Ben Chapman: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has to record representations he receives for and against the (a) present sitting hours of the House and (b) September sitting of the House.

Peter Hain: To record the many informal representations I receive would be impractical, especially as many do not fall into a clear "for" or "against" category. However, as I announced to the House last week, the Modernisation Committee is to survey Members' views as part of a formal review of the sitting hours change.

Sitting Hours

Ben Chapman: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has to review the sitting hours of the House.

Peter Hain: As I announced to the House last Thursday, the Modernisation Committee intends to review the sitting hours. I am keen that the Committee should explore a range of options with a view to establishing a new and durable consensus.

Sitting Hours

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Leader of the House what assessment he has made of the impact of the new sitting hours of the House on the times of committee meetings.

Peter Hain: I am aware that some Members have found the time of Standing Committees irksome and am willing to consider this further. I have also discussed with the Liaison Committee the impact of the sitting hours on Select Committee meetings.

TREASURY

Financial Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the current qualification levels for financial advisers; and what assessment he has made of whether these are of a high enough standard to protect the public;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the badging and level of qualifications for financial advisers; and what assessment he has made as to ways in which this could be simplified;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the extent to which a simpler form of badging to indicate the qualification and level of competence of a financial adviser would improve consumer confidence.

Ruth Kelly: Consumer protection should take account of the requirement that those working in the financial services industry are capable of properly performing the work they undertake at all levels, and that consumers should thereby have confidence in the competence of financial advisers.
	The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 charges the Financial Services Authority (FSA) with securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers. Vetting by the FSA aims to allow only those firms and individuals satisfying the necessary criteria (including competence) to engage in regulated activity.
	The FSA sets training and competence policy, including minimum standards for regulated firms and examination standards. The purpose of the FSA is to set the standards of training and competence that firms should reach.
	The FSA works closely with both the industry and consumers, and keeps training and competence requirements under review. It carried out a significant review of the qualification regime for financial services in November 2002. In particular the FSA proposed in Consultation Paper 194 (CP194) that the training arrangements should be simplified and competence assessed by using examinations that are 'appropriate' rather than a published list of FSA 'approved' examinations. This proposal gives firms greater flexibility, because they will be able to choose an examination that is appropriate in their circumstances.
	The FSA liaises closely with the Skills Council for Financial Services to ensure that consumer protection is at the forefront of training and competence policy. The Skills Council for Financial Services has responsibility to develop world class occupational standards in the financial services sector and to ensure that all sector specific qualifications are based on them.

Financial Services

Jackie Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on developments in financial services.

Ruth Kelly: I am replying as the Minister responsible for financial services.
	Under the terms of the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England (dated 28 October 1997), the FSA have kept me informed of developments at Standard Life, which have led to this morning's statement by the FSA.
	The FSA have responsibility for regulatory decisions under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), including the setting up of a review under Section 166. They have informed the Treasury of their decision to commission a review by independent experts into the origins and implications of the significant divergence in the calculation of Standard Life's liabilities.
	I will continue to keep the House informed of developments.

Red Diesel

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated loss to his Department was from the fraudulent manufacture and use of red diesel in each of the last five years for which there are records.

John Healey: HM Customs and Excise's latest estimates of the overall revenue loss from all forms of diesel fraud in Great Britain and the overall revenue loss from all forms of diesel fraud and legitimate cross-border shopping of diesel in Northern Ireland in 2000, 2001 and 2002 are set out in their Annual Report (HC 52) published in December 2003.
	The following table sets out Customs' latest estimates of the revenue loss in 1998 and 1999:
	
		£ million
		
			  Great Britain(diesel fraud) Northern Ireland (diesel fraud and legitimate cross border shopping of diesel) 
		
		
			 1998 750 85 
			 1999 900 175 
		
	
	Customs believe the great majority of diesel fraud on the British mainland, and a significant loss in Northern Ireland, involve the misuse of rebated or low-tax fuels supplied for non-road use, but a specific estimate of loss from red diesel alone is not available.

VAT (Motorcycle Helmets)

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when, and on what basis, motorcycle helmets were made subject to VAT.

John Healey: Motorcycle helmets which meet the necessary approved standards have been VAT zero-rated since 1 June 1974. The Government have made clear in negotiations on the European Commission's review of reduced VAT rates that we will not agree to the removal of any of our zero or reduced VAT rate derogations.

WALES

Dee Cockle Regulation Order

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he expects the Dee Cockle Regulation Order to be implemented.

Don Touhig: Responsibility for managing the Dee Estuary rests with the Environment Agency in its role as a Sea Fisheries Committee. As the Dee Estuary straddles the Wales/England border, Defra and the Welsh Assembly will act jointly to make a single Regulating Order under the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967, once the Environment Agency Wales, is in a position to submit a formal application for the Order. The Agency is in the process of obtaining written consents from landowners and it will forward an application when these are received.
	Both the Welsh Assembly and Defra will ensure that the application is processed as quickly as possible under the terms of the 1967 Act, but the process can take up to two years.

Fair Trade Products

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether it is the policy of his Department to use fair trade products, as a matter of course, in (a) sales on departmental premises and (b) receptions and meetings involving staff and visitors.

Peter Hain: My office does not have a refreshment facility in which it could stock and sell fair trade products.
	While there is currently no Government-wide approach to the procurement of fair trade products, we will endeavour to use them for official entertaining, subject to this being value for money.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Children's Green Paper

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements are already in existence to register children on a national register.

Margaret Hodge: There are no arrangements in existence to register children on a national register. There are no plans for children to be included on a national register.

E-Registration Systems

Eric Forth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have (a) been awarded Department for Education and Skills funds for e-registration, (b) installed e-registration and (c) have fully operational e-registration systems. [R]

Charles Clarke: My Department has provided 480 secondary schools with funding to purchase electronic registration systems. Another 61 schools are in the process of claiming such funding. However, schools may use other funds to purchase e-registration systems and they are not required to inform the Department when they do so. So the information required to answer parts (b) and (c) of the right hon. Member's question is not available centrally.

Education Funding

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answers of 11 December 2003, Official Report, column 608W, on education spending, what effect the announcement of additional funding for 2004–05 in the Chancellor's pre-Budget report will have on the sums provided; and what the sums provided were in 2003–04.

David Miliband: The additional funding provided in the Chancellor's pre-Budget report affects the Revenue Support Grant payable to authorities rather than the Formula Spending Shares, which remain unchanged. The basic entitlement in the Education formula Spending Share in 2003–04 was £2,004.65 for primary pupils and £2,656.92 for secondary pupils.

Environmental Engineering

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to increase opportunities for young people in the field of environmental engineering, with particular reference to the provision of (a) courses in further education and (b) modern apprenticeships.

Ivan Lewis: There are a number of different routes into careers and relevant university courses in environmental engineering. Young people choosing this area will therefore benefit from the Government's commitment to increase opportunities to study or train in a variety of subjects in both colleges and Modern Apprenticeships. A range of academic and vocational subjects, together with Modern Apprenticeship frameworks, are available in the areas of engineering, science, construction and the environment. The relevant sector bodies for this area LANTRA covering land based industries and SEMTA covering engineering are working with employers in their sectors to promote these careers to young people and with the Learning and Skills Council expand the range of opportunities available.

Fresh Water (School Dining Rooms)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the availability of fresh water in school dining rooms; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: All schools are required to have a wholesome supply of drinking water. However, it is for local education authorities, governors and schools to decide how and when drinking water should be made available to pupils.
	Guidance produced by this Department advises caterers on meeting the requirements of the Government's nutritional standards for school lunches and recommends that drinking water should be made available to all pupils every day, free of charge. The DfES, in partnership with the Food Standards Agency, are currently examining school meals provision in 80 maintained secondary schools in England. This exercise will also consider the extent to which complementary guidance, which covers drinking water provision, is adhered to. Results of the exercise are due in late spring 2004.

Higher Education Expansion

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his estimate is of the cost of the current phase of expansion of higher education in annual revenue terms.

Alan Johnson: Funding for higher education in England between 2002–03 and 2005–06 was set out in the White Paper, "The Future of Higher Education" (Cm 5735), published in January 2003. The overall funding for higher education—including the costs of expansion—will increase by 31 per cent. between those years from £7,596 million to £9,918 million.

Information Technology

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on differences in information technology curricula between the main examination boards.

David Miliband: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is responsible for ensuring the GCSE specifications, including those in ICT, are consistent with the National Curriculum programmes of study, conform to publicly available subject criteria published by the regulatory authorities, and are of a consistent rigour and standards. The subject specific criteria set out a framework for aims, assessment objectives, and schemes of assessment required in syllabuses. Each awarding body is then free to develop GCSE specifications within the framework.
	I have asked the Chief Executive of the QCA to write to you providing further details of individual awarding body specifications.

Mobile Phones

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the Government's policy is on the use of mobile phones in schools by (a) pupils and (b) staff.

Ivan Lewis: The use of mobile phones in schools, by pupils, is a local matter to be determined by the headteacher, school governing body and/or the local education authority. The Department has advised schools to take into account the Chief Medical Officer's guidance that children and young people should be encouraged to use their phones for essential purposes only and to keep the calls short. The Department has not issued guidance for teacher's use of mobile phones.

Education Standards

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what methods are used to measure regional differences in educational standards.

Ivan Lewis: The Department publishes a wide variety of data on the performance of schools and other education institutions, including 'value added' measures. Much of this is published in Statistical Bulletins, Statistical First Releases and Statistical Volumes of Education as well as Performance Tables. These sources provide information at school, LEA, Regional, and national level. This data is used by bodies such as Regional Development Agencies and the Learning and Skills Council to help develop regional and local strategies to improve education and skills attainment.

School Meals

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact on the nutrient content of school meals of the metric used by the Audit Commission Best Value Inspectors for school catering services.

Stephen Twigg: This Department has not made any such assessment as the Audit Commission as part of Ofsted LEA inspections uses the food based approach set out in the Nutritional Standards Regulations in its inspections of school catering services.

School Meals

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make it his policy to (a) implement national nutrient-based standards for (i) school breakfasts and (ii) school lunches and (b) make arrangements for monitoring their implementation.

Stephen Twigg: There are no plans to require maintained schools to provide breakfasts. Schools are required to provide free lunches to eligible pupils, and lunches for other pupils where a request for one is made, that meet the school lunch nutritional standards.
	We carried out two consultations before introducing the national nutritional standards in 2001. Most of those consulted thought that food based standards would be simpler to implement and monitor, and would be consistent with cross Government policies that support children in making healthy eating choices. Most importantly, they are easily understood by children.

Teachers (Chorley)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time (i) primary and (ii) secondary school teachers were employed in Chorley constituency in each of the last three years.

David Miliband: The following table shows the numbers of full-time and part-time regular teachers, employed in each January between 2001 and 2003, in primary and secondary schools in Chorley constituency.
	
		
			   Maintained primary(1)  Maintained secondary(1) 
			  Full-time(2) Part-time(2) Full-time(2) Part-time(2) 
		
		
			 2001 340 120 400 70 
			 2002 340 110 420 70 
			 2003 350 120 430 60 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(2) Includes qualified and other teaching staff.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census.

Teachers (Huntingdon)

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers were employed in Huntingdon on 1 December 2003.

David Miliband: Constituency level data for regular teachers are collected on the Annual Schools' Census in January of each year. The most recent data available for primary and secondary full-time regular teachers is at January 2003. These data are shown in the following table.
	
		Full-time teachers(3) in maintained schools in Huntingdon constituency
		
			  Number 
		
		
			  
			  
			 Primary(4) 380 
			 Secondary(4) 420 
		
	
	(3) Includes qualified and other teaching staff.
	(4) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census.

Toilet Training

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment has been made of toilet training for children; and whether any research has been conducted on this subject.

Stephen Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department of Health has not commissioned any recent research on links between bowel and bladder problems in children and child abuse.
	Data on the number of parents accused, and admitting to abuse of their children as result of enuresis are not collected centrally.
	A study published in 1997, based on data from the national study of health and growth, found that a father's social class was associated with enuresis only in girls, with a higher prevalence in those whose fathers were manual workers.
	"Good practice in continence services", issued by the Department in April 2000, provides guidance to primary care trusts (PCTs) on continence services. This includes that PCTs should have specialist continence services in place, which provide patients with an individual assessment of their needs. Provision of these services in England is a matter for PCTs, which are responsible for determining the level of services required to meet the needs of their local populations. The Department does not monitor provision in this level of detail.
	Toilet training for children is considered in the Department of Health guide, "Birth to Five", available free to first time mothers and at www.doh.gov.uk/birthtofive/. The Department has not commissioned any recent research on toilet training for children.

Unauthorised Absence

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils missed, through unauthorised absence, (a) one half-day session, (b) between two and five half-day sessions, (c) between six and 10 half-day sessions, (d) between 11 and 15 half-day sessions, (e) between 16 and 20 half-day sessions and (f) over 20 half-day sessions in each year since 1997.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not available. The Pupil Absence Return requires schools to provide only the number of pupils with at least one unauthorised absence. From the data collected, it is possible to calculate the average number of half-days missed per absent pupil due to unauthorised absence and the figures since 1997 are shown as follows:
	
		
			 Academic year Average number of half-days missed per absent pupil due to unauthorised absence 
		
		
			 1997/98 15 
			 1998/99 14 
			 1999/2000 13 
			 2000/01 13 
			 2001/02 13 
			 2002/03 12 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures are for maintained primary and secondary schools combined.

Tuition Fees

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount the proposed top-up fees would raise annually if (a) all universities charged the maximum and (b) universities on average charged half the maximum.

Alan Johnson: Information on the costs and benefits associated with the proposal in the Higher Education Bill to allow universities to set their own tuition fees is contained in the Regulatory Impact Assessment, published on 8 January 2004, alongside the Bill. The Regulatory Impact Assessment illustrates the income from additional fees in different scenarios. Because of the nature of a variable scheme, the costs vary greatly according to the decisions that higher education institutions take, and they cannot be estimated precisely at this stage. Copies of the Regulatory Impact Assessment were placed in the Library of the House; it is also available on the Department for Education and Skills website.

Tuition Fees

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in which year he expects his proposal to increase from £10,000 to £15,000 the income threshold for repayment by graduates of tuition fees to take effect; and whether he plans to take account of possible inflation in the intervening period when setting the threshold.

Alan Johnson: We plan to increase the threshold for the repayment of student loans from £10,000 to £15,000 with effect from April 2005. No account will be taken of any inflation in the intervening period.

Violent Pupils

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provisions are being implemented to promote the safety of teachers, with particular reference to violent pupils.

Ivan Lewis: We are investing nearly £470 million over this and the next two years in measures to improve behaviour and attendance in schools. These include training for school staff in managing pupil behaviour and preventing violence. We have also made it clear that head teachers may permanently exclude pupils responsible for violence. New legislation in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act will enable local education authorities to apply for court-imposed Parenting Orders for parents whose children have been excluded from school for serious misbehaviour. And we have issued "A legal toolkit for schools", which identifies legal remedies available when school staff experience problems with violent parents. Some of these are also available when dealing with violent pupils.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in her Department work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire.

Richard Caborn: There are currently no staff in my department that work in the West Midlands or North Staffordshire area.

Hotel Accommodation (VAT)

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make representations to the Chancellor to undertake a review of value added tax levels on hotel accommodation.

Richard Caborn: DCMS has no plans at present to make representations to the Chancellor to review the rate of VAT on hotel accommodation, but we will continue to monitor the position carefully in consultation with the tourism and hospitality industry. Inconsidering the rate of VAT for hotels, the Government has to consider a wide range of issues such as the rate paid by other industries and the impact on revenue to the Exchequer, both in the short and longer term. The Government's aim is to maintain a tax system that provides the best overall environment for business, but it does keep the system under continual review.

Iraqi National Museum

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Government Ministers have recently visited the Iraqi national museum in Baghdad; and if she will make a statement on (a) lost, stolen or damaged exhibits belonging to the museum and (b) access to the museum and its security.

Tessa Jowell: No Government Ministers have visited the Iraqi national museum in Baghdad recently. The British Museum is collaborating with the Baghdad Museum on a conservation programme which includes providing training in London for three Iraqi conservators on up to date conservation techniques. Estimates on numbers of missing artefacts are subject to regular revision. Early reports stating that 170,000 pieces had been looted from the museum were misleading. Currently around 30 pieces from the main collection are still unaccounted for and a further 10–13,000 other pieces may also be missing. Access to the Museum and the security of the Museum, and of its collections is a matter for the Museum and the appropriate Iraqi authorities working in partnership with the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Tourism

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to increase productivity in the tourism industry in 2004.

Richard Caborn: Government, in partnership with the wider tourism industry, has identified four key strategic priority areas for increasing productivity in the industry. During 2004, DCMS will continue the work that is already in progress on domestic and overseas marketing through direct funding to VisitBritain and development of the EnglandNet initiative, on raising skills through supporting the establishment of a Sector Skills Council, by driving up quality through the Fitness for Purpose initiative and a review of the current accommodation quality grading schemes, and by improving tourism data through a review of data quality and availability with a view to strengthening statistics. A fifth priority for DCMS is to strengthen the advocacy of tourism across government at all levels. By concentrating on these areas, we aim to drive up productivity in the sector and to develop a highly competitive industry with sustainable foundations for long-term growth.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Cyprus

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the fairness of the recent parliamentary elections in Turkish Cyprus; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: The 14 December elections to the "Assembly" of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", although not officially recognised, were an important opportunity for the Turkish Cypriot people to express their views on the island's future. A small team of academics from the University of Oslo carried out an independent study of the elections and the pre-electoral period. They noted some serious concerns about the manner in which the campaign was conducted. Lack of impartiality in the media was one area highlighted. The final report from the University of Oslo team is expected within the next month.
	We too have noted the widespread concerns expressed by many Turkish Cypriots about the way the campaign was conducted. There were numerous reports of intimidation and also of rigging of the electoral register. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. MacShane) gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) on 17 November 2003, Official Report, columns 657–58W.
	As far as we are aware, elections on the day were conducted in a fair and open manner. We welcome the fact that notwithstanding these concerns about the campaign, the majority of the population in the north of Cyprus voted for candidates committed to a solution to the Cyprus problem. We encourage all sides to work now for a settlement to the Cyprus problem based on the UN Secretary General's proposals (the Annan Plan) by 1 May.

HGV Drivers (Detention)

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British heavy goods vehicle drivers are held in prisons in EU countries, broken down by country.

Chris Mullin: The following is a breakdown of the number of British lorry drivers that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been made aware of held in detention in each European Union country as of 8 January 2004:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 France 60 
			 Belgium 9 
			 Spain 4 
			 Italy 1 
			 Germany 1 
			 Sweden 1 
			 Netherlands 0 
			 Luxemburg 0 
			 Denmark 0 
			 Portugal 0 
			 Greece 0 
			 Austria 0 
			 Ireland 0 
			 Finland 0

Intergovernmental Conference

David Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether all member states agreed to the Intergovernmental Conference Final Declaration issued by the Italian Presidency.

Denis MacShane: The Declaration on the Intergovernmental Conference was concluded on the Presidency's own authority and annexed to the European Council Conclusions. The main elements of it were, however, presented to the European Council before it concluded on 13 December 2003.

International Treaties

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will name the judicial body and its treaty or other international basis empowered to adjudicate and provide interpretations and judgments concerning (a) the international treaties comprising the core structure and operation of the principal Treaties of the European Community and Union and (b) a formal European Constitution, once agreed, ratified and operative, similar to that under current consideration.

Denis MacShane: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance, each within its own jurisdiction, ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the European Community Treaty, under the terms of its Article 220. The powers of the ECJ in respect of the Treaty on European Union are set out in that Treaty's Article 46. The ECJ would be responsible for ensuring respect for the law in the interpretation and application of the Constitutional Treaty (draft Article 1.28 (1)).

Libya

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with his (a) Libyan and (b) German counterparts concerning the seizure of the German-flagged ship BBC China;
	(2)  what part was played by British officials in the recent tracking and seizure of the German-flagged ship BBC China.

Jack Straw: holding answer 12 January 2004
	It is our policy to co-operate with our allies in seeking to take action against the transport of goods which could contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The UK is an active participant in the Proliferation Security Initiative designed to improve international co-ordination in this area. I am withholding further information under exemption 1 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Libya

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects that talks will be held with Libya about ending its programme for the development of weapons of mass destruction; which other countries he expects will be involved; and what role the International Atomic Energy Agency will play in the talks.

Denis MacShane: holding answer 12 January 2004
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has invited Libyan Foreign Minister Shalgam to visit London soon to discuss a range of bilateral and international issues. This will form part of the process of implementing the decision by Libya to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programmes. Britain and the United States will now be taking forward the practical issues of verification and of the dismantling of these weapons in partnership with Libya and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
	We have committed ourselves to helping with the preparation of Libya's returns to the IAEA and OPCW and to helping dismantle the programmes Libya has agreed to destroy. Within their respective remits, the responsibility for verifying Libya's declarations lies with the IAEA and the OPCW, and it is for the Libyan authorities to inform these organisations about the details of their programmes. Declarations, as always in these areas, will need to be detailed and comprehensive.

Libya

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  from which country the BBC China set sail with the cargo of uranium enrichment equipment seized in Italian territorial waters in October 2003; and in which country the equipment was made;
	(2)  what happened to the cargo seized from the BBC China in Italy in October 2003.

Jack Straw: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him today (UIN146839 & 146840).

Libya

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what role Mr. Nelson Mandela played in the recent change in relations between Libya and the United States and the United Kingdom.

Jack Straw: Mr. Mandela had no involvement in the recent discussions on Libya's weapons programme. These discussions only involved officials and experts from Libya, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Schengen Agreement

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what parts of the Schengen acquis the United Kingdom has applied to participate in since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.
	In March 1999, the United Kingdom applied to participate in those parts of the Schengen acquis which relate to police and judicial co-operation, co-operation against drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The UK also applied to participate in the related provisions of the Schengen Information System. My right hon. Friend the then Home Secretary (Jack Straw) made a statement to Parliament on 12 March 1999 setting out this proposed partial participation in Schengen.
	The United Kingdom's partial participation in Schengen was agreed by the JHA Council in its Decision of 29 May 2000 (Decision number 2000/365/EC). There has been no further application by the United Kingdom.

Sudan

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Sudan on its treatment of students who support Sudan Organisation Against Torture.

Chris Mullin: Our embassy in Khartoum has raised the issue with the Government of Sudan who have acknowledged our concerns and have undertaken to look into the cases and report back to us.

Sudan

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Sudan on the recent arrests in Nyala, Sudan; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: Our embassy in Khartoum has raised the issue with the Government of Sudan who have acknowledged our concerns and have undertaken to look into the cases and report back to us.
	I discussed the human rights situation in Sudan generally, and in Darfur more specifically, with the Sudanese Ambassador on 2 December 2003. And my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) raised our concerns with the President of Sudan on 10 December 2003.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Andrew Smith

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to his answer of 15 December 2003, Official Report, column 721W, what working arrangements there have been between Mr. Andrew Smith and his Department in Sierra Leone prior to the last 12 months.

Hilary Benn: There have been none.

Company Checks

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what checks officials in his Department make on the identities of shareholders and partners in companies which are contracted to provide services for it overseas; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: We routinely check the financial standing of companies through Companies House and Dun & Bradstreet reports. We do not normally check the identities of company shareholders or partners unless prompted to do so by our standard financial appraisal or other cause.

Developing Countries

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the benefits achieved to date for developing countries from the World Trade Organisation agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health;.
	(2)  whether it is his policy to support compulsory licensing for export of all drugs for life-threatening diseases to least-developed countries.

Mike O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.
	We welcome the Decision of the General Council of the WTO on 30 August 2003 which resolves the outstanding issue from the Doha Ministerial Declaration on the Trade-Related Property Rights Agreement (the TRIPS Agreement) and Public Health—the issue of how countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector can make effective use of the compulsory licensing provisions within the WTO TRIPS Agreement.
	The Decision effectively extends to countries with minimal or no domestic manufacturing capacity the existing flexibility within the TRIPS Agreement to issue compulsory licenses by allowing other countries to produce and export to them. The original TRIPS Agreement allowed for compulsory licensing only where such licensing was primarily for domestic use.
	We are currently considering with our European partners how best to implement the new Decision both at EU and at UK level. Beyond our own implementation, we will monitor the wider implementation of the Decision in due course in order to ensure that the Decision is implemented effectively and delivers the intended benefits to developing countries. However, it is too early to make a substantive assessment of the benefits achieved to date for developing countries from the new Decision.
	In the context of implementing the new Decision, the Government has supported the principle that pharmaceutical companies in developed countries should be able to act as suppliers under the new arrangements—which would include the export of drugs for life-threatening diseases to least-developed countries—if they so choose.

HIPC Initiative

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which countries taking part in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative have reached completion point within the timescale established at their decision point.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: When the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched in 1999, the fixed three-year performance period of the original HIPC framework was replaced by a 'floating' Completion Point. This means that Completion Point is triggered by the successful implementation of a set of pre-defined reform measures, rather than a set period of time. The Decision Point documents for HIPC countries give a prediction of when a country is expected to meet the floating Completion Point triggers, but these time-scales are intended to be only rough estimates. Of the nine countries that have reached Completion Point, only two (Mauritania and Uganda) did so at the date that had been predicted. Two further countries (Tanzania and Mozambique) reached Completion Point within five months of the date predicted at Decision Point. The remaining five countries (Mali, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Guyana) missed their predicted Completion Point date by at least a year. Delay in reaching Completion Point is mostly due to poor policy performance. It should be noted, however, that there has been no delay to delivery of relief, as countries cease to make payments on their debt from Decision Point.

Special and Differential Treatment

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had since 17 September 2003 with (a) the World Trade Organisation, (b) the European Commission and (c) the United States about the use of special and differential treatment.

Mike O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.
	It is important that WTO rules more fully reflect different WTO Members' implementation capacities and stages of development. We are therefore disappointed at the lack of progress which has been made in addressing Special and Differential Treatment issues post-Doha.
	We had hoped to see agreement in Cancun to at least an initial package of measures, however limited, which might then have opened the way to a wider dialogue on Special and Differential Treatment within the WTO, perhaps through the creation of an expert working group. In the event, no such package of measures was agreed and no progress made on establishing a wider dialogue, through an expert working group or otherwise.
	We will continue to press the case for appropriate Special and Differential Treatment within the WTO system with all relevant interlocutors.

Zimbabwe

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment has been made of the impact on health standards of the strike by doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Even before the doctors and nurses went on strike three months ago, the coverage and quality of health services in Zimbabwe were being compromised by severe shortages of skilled doctors, nurses, and other professional staff. Declining numbers due to AIDS mortality and migration has led to vacancy rates of 40 per cent. for nurses, 55 per cent. for doctors, and 90 per cent. for pharmacists. Those who remained saw their standard of living drastically eroded by inflation, which now stands at 700 per cent. per annum.
	During the doctors' and nurses' strike the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare attempted to limit damage by deploying military medical personnel and Cuban doctors. The doctors' strike came to an end early this month when substantial increases in salaries and allowances were agreed.
	The health impacts of the strike and the ongoing human resources crisis have not been quantified, but recent trends in health status in Zimbabwe are alarming. In less than 10 years, life expectancy at birth declined from 50 to less than 35 years, and mortality among children under five rose by more than 50 per cent. HIV prevalence is currently 25 per cent. among those aged 15–49 years. There are over 3000 AIDS-related deaths per week, and more than half a million children have been orphaned by AIDS.

Zimbabwe

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment has been made of the request by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs for non-food aid for Zimbabwe.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently released an update on the UN Consolidated Appeals Process in Southern Africa. DFID agrees with OCHA's assessment that while food shortages remain the most immediate humanitarian concern in Zimbabwe, other factors affecting and threatening the basic needs of the Zimbabwean people should not be underestimated or neglected. These include the crippling effect of HIV/AIDS on households and communities, the lack of agricultural inputs, and the rapid decline of basic social services such as health care and education.
	DFID is committing approximately £35 million to Zimbabwe this financial year in support of both food and non-food initiatives through UN agencies and other channels. Approximately £28 million is going towards humanitarian relief programmes, including some support to subsistence farmers to enable them to plant food crops to feed themselves, and the provision of safe and clean water to vulnerable urban populations. Our other main programmes help to tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis, and support the health sector. No funding goes through the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure the funds are not abused.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Car Theft

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases involving the theft of (a) vehicles and (b) property from vehicles were reported during December 2003 in each of the Park and Ride car parks operated under the auspices of the Department of Regional Development in the Belfast area.

John Spellar: I have asked the Chief Executive of Roads Service to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

Costello Report

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will publish the Costello report on the future selection and transfer procedure between primary and secondary education in Northern Ireland.

Jane Kennedy: The Costello report deals with many complex issues and I am giving it careful consideration. I will make an announcement as soon as possible about the publication of the report and the shape of future transfer and post primary arrangements.

Dental Care

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many dental practices in each Northern Ireland health authority area have ceased providing general dental services in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available. The Department will be developing a new strategy for primary care dentistry, taking account of the recent reviews of the Dental Workplace and the Community Dental Service, and an important part of any new system of delivery will be to ensure that patients are able to access health service dental care.

Motorsport Circuit

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on publicly funded support for a motorsport circuit for Northern Ireland. [R]

Angela Smith: Publicly funded support for a motorsport circuit for Northern Ireland must be considered in the context of the development of motorsports in Northern Ireland.
	Responsibility for the development of motorsports in Northern Ireland rests with the relevant governing bodies as represented by the 2&4 Wheel Motorsport Steering Group Ltd. This Group is currently engaged in an 'Expressions of Interest' exercise in relation to the development of motorsports facilities, including the possibility of a regional motorsports facility. It would be premature to comment on funding implications in advance of the completion of this exercise.

CABINET OFFICE

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of relocation of staff to North Staffordshire; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment his Office has made of the effect of possible relocation of staff in his Office to North Staffordshire on (a) job creation, (b) sustainable development, (c) the local economy and (d) tackling regional economic disparities; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what plans he has to establish procedures for assessing the impact of possible re-location of staff in the Office to the regions; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effect of proposals to relocate Government jobs on the Government's ability to meet (a) their policy objectives and (b) departmental public service agreements.

Douglas Alexander: I refer my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North to the answer that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury gave on 12 January 2004, Official Report, column 516W.

Illegal Drugs

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether his Strategy Unit has produced reports in the last two years on a strategy for reducing harm resulting from the use of illegal drugs.

Douglas Alexander: The Strategy Unit has been working closely with the Home Office and other key Departments in undertaking a study on high-harm-causing drugs.
	The study is a review of the impact of interventions on the drug supply chain from international production to distribution within the UK.
	The study will report privately to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

House Tours

Judy Mallaber: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what plans he has to improve access for tours of the House by constituents.

Archy Kirkwood: A detailed report on the first year of operations since the introduction of the Central Tours Office and the new sitting hours in January last year is being prepared for the Administration Committee. The Committee will consider the report, taking into account views expressed by Members, and will then advise the Commission.

SCOTLAND

Oil and Gas Industry

Frank Doran: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the impact of the North Sea oil and gas industry on the Scottish economy.

Alistair Darling: The Government recognise the continuing vital role of the North Sea oil and gas industry for the Scottish economy and to the UK as a whole in terms of jobs, investment and its contribution to the national income.

Cannabis

Bill Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Executive regarding the reclassification of cannabis.

Anne McGuire: The legislation governing the classification of drugs is reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. The Home Office is working closely with the Scottish Executive to ensure a coordinated approach to the reclassification of cannabis, which will take effect from 29 January.

Elections

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the findings of the Electoral Commission in its report on elections in Scotland.

Anne McGuire: I met, in November, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission who briefed me on the official report on last year's Scottish Parliament and local government elections. I very much welcome this report. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, will consider very carefully all of the recommendations made by the Commission.

Pensioners (Means-tested Benefits)

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many pensioner households in Scotland are in receipt of means-tested benefits.

Alistair Darling: The latest figure indicates that 320,000 pensioners are receiving income-related benefits in Scotland.

Pensioners (Means-tested Benefits)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many pensioner households in Scotland are in receipt of means-tested benefits.

Anne McGuire: The latest figure indicates that 320,000 pensioners in Scotland are receiving income-related benefits.

Fisheries Council

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the outcome of last month's EU Fisheries Council and its consequences for the North Sea fleet in Scotland.

Anne McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to his question on 8 January. He may also like to refer to the record of a statement in the Scottish Parliament made by Mr. Ross Finnie MSP on 7 January.

Civil Service Jobs (Dispersal)

Calum MacDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent steps the Government has taken to promote the dispersal of civil service jobs from central London to Scotland.

Alistair Darling: I am determined that Scotland will continue to get its fair share of posts created by UK Departments or dispersed from London, and I have encouraged Cabinet colleagues to consider what Scotland has to offer when they are reviewing relocation options.

Defence Establishments

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the contribution of defence establishments in Scotland to the economy of Scotland.

Anne McGuire: While my right hon. Friend and I are well aware that defence establishments make a significant contribution to the Scottish economy, such assessments are a matter for the Secretary of State for Defence and the Scottish Executive.

Type 45 Destroyers

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has (a) received from stakeholders in Scotland and (b) made to the Ministry of Defence in connection with the orders for Type 45 destroyers.

Alistair Darling: I have neither received nor made any specific representations in connection with the Type 45 destroyer programme.

Defence White Paper

Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent meetings he has had with the Scottish Executive on the economic impact on Scotland of the Defence White Paper.

Alistair Darling: I regularly meet Ministers in the Scottish Executive to discuss a range of issues, including the Scottish economy.

Innovation and Enterprise

Iain Luke: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on innovation and enterprise in Scotland.

Anne McGuire: Innovation and enterprise are at the heart of productivity growth and social gain. Scotland has gained an international reputation as a centre of innovation and expertise in life sciences and other technologies.
	The Chancellor's recent pre-Budget report announced a number of measures, which build on existing programmes to promote innovation and enterprise in Scotland and across the UK. These include a widening of the eligibility for research and development tax credits, reforms to reduce the regulatory burden on enterprise and measures to overcome barriers facing small business when raising finance.

Art Acquisition

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent on the acquisition of works of art in each year since 1997, broken down by amounts spent on (a) paintings and (b) sculpture; what the single most expensive piece of art purchased by his Department since 1997 was; how much it cost; and what the total revenue raised by his Department through sales of its works of art has been since 1997.

Anne McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999.
	Since that date, the office has spent £3,055 on works of art. The most expensive item cost £720. No works of sculpture have been acquired and no departmental-owned works of art have been sold during this period.

Departmental Identity Cards

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the implications of the introduction of compulsory identity cards for his Department.

Anne McGuire: I do not consider that the introduction of a national identity card scheme will have any particular implications for the Scotland Office. Decisions on the use of identity cards to access devolved services in Scotland will be a matter for the Scottish Executive.

Give as You Earn Scheme

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many and what percentage of staff in his Department contribute to a charity through the Give as You Earn scheme; how much money is donated to charity per month by staff in his Department through the scheme; and what steps he is taking to encourage greater participation in the scheme by staff in his Department.

Anne McGuire: A small number of staff in the Scotland Office currently contribute just over £200 per month to charities through the Give As You Earn scheme. Further details cannot be provided so as to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned.
	Information about the Give As You Earn scheme is available on the departmental intranet site and periodic reminders are issued about the facility. Staff may, of course, make donations to charities by other means.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Airwave Police Radio System

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from (a) the Essex Police Authority and (b) others on funding by the Home Office for the Airwave radio system; and what changes have been made in the level of funding to be made available for the system in Essex.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 8 January 2004
	Essex Police Authority and several other Forces have written about funding of their 2004–05 costs for optional services over and above the basic service. The Home Office is currently establishing the funding needs for each force and will inform Essex Police Authority of changes to its settlement in the near future.

Arson

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many instances of arson there have been in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Hazel Blears: The available information is given in the table.
	
		Number of offences of arson recorded by the police in England and Wales
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1998–99(5) 47,273 
			 1999–2000 53,794 
			 2000–01 52,818 
			 2001–02(6) 60,470 
			 2002–03(6) 53,200 
		
	
	(5) There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which had the effect of increasing the number of crimes counted. Numbers of offences for years before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.
	(6) The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) was introduced across England and Wales in April 2002. Some police forces adopted the standard prior to this date. Broadly, the NCRS had the effect of increasing the number of crimes recorded by the police. Therefore, following the introduction of the standard numbers of recorded crimes are not comparable with previous years.

Ball Bearing Guns

David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce measures to deal with the use of ball bearing guns in public; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Under the provisions of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 it will be an offence to have an imitation firearm in a public place without reasonable excuse. We expect this provision to come into force on 20 January. The issue of controls on imitation firearms will be dealt with in the review of firearms legislation which I intend to launch shortly.

Boris Berezovsky

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the outcome of police investigations into the claims made during the hearing of the extradition case against Boris Berezovsky that an assassin had been sent from Russia to attack him.

Hazel Blears: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the Metropolitan Police Service was made aware of an alleged threat to Boris Berezovsky. Inquiries made were unable to either substantiate this information or find evidence of any criminal offences having been committed. Investigations into this matter have been concluded.

Community Support Officers

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community support officers will be in post in the London borough of Sutton by the end of March 2004.

Hazel Blears: The allocation of Community Support Officers (CSOs) within the Metropolitan Police Service is a matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
	The Commissioner has informed me that he plans to deploy 17 CSOs in Sutton by the end of March 2004.

Crime Reduction Initiatives

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding has been made available to local communities to support interventions that (a) disrupt local drug markets by tackling both the supply and demand, (b) tackle drug-related crime and (c) address associated anti-social behaviour in (i) Middlesbrough South and Cleveland, East (ii) the North East and (iii) England.

Caroline Flint: In December 2002, the Government announced in the Updated Drug Strategy substantial direct annual spending to tackle drug misuse. Details are set out in the following table.
	
		£ million
		
			  2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 Protecting young people 149 155 163 
			 Reducing supply 380 380 380 
			 Safeguarding communities(7) 212 297 367 
			 Drug treatment(8) 503 512 573 
			 Total 1,244 1,344 1,483 
		
	
	(7) Includes expenditure strengthening delivery.
	(8) Includes mainstream spending, prison treatment and pooled budgets.
	Regional breakdowns of financial allocations to local communities are not available in the form requested. However the table shows funding streams allocated directly to the Drug Action Teams in Middlesbrough, and in Redcar and Cleveland.
	
		Regional funding 2003–04 -- £
		
			  Middlesbrough allocation Redcar and Cleveland allocation  
		
		
			 DAT Development Funding 35,000 34,000 
			 Pooled Treatment Budget 1,113,000 765,000 
			 Throughcare and Aftercare 133,000 35,000 
			 Capacity Building Funding 350,000 — 
		
	
	In addition to this, national funding provided to, for example, the Police, Probation and Prison Services, is used to tackle the drug-related issues in question.
	A breakdown of direct allocations by Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships against drug-related anti-social behaviour is not available.

Department Policies

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the impact of his Department's policies on the constituency of Regent's Park and Kensington North since 1997.

Hazel Blears: Most of the policies initiated by the Home Office since 1997 have had an impact on the Regent's Park and Kensington North constituency as on other parts of the country. Our policies in the areas of crime reduction, anti-social behaviour and policing are providing direct benefits to the people of Regent's Park and Kensington North.
	It is not possible to give details back to 1997, but policies and initiatives in recent years in the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) areas of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have included:
	Crime Reduction Initiatives
	Initiatives that have been funded in Kensington and Chelsea and City of Westminster for crime reduction purposes (total amount of funding awarded).
	
		
			 Name of initiative Year City of Westminster (£) Kensington and Chelsea (£) 
		
		
			 CCTV—Round 1 2000–03 1,205,000 117,000 
			 CCTV—Round 2 2001–03 65,738 281,000 
			 Reducing burglary initiative 2002–03 — 59,582 
			 Communities against drugs 2001–02 277,800 199,400 
			  2002–03 956,047 199,400 
			 Safer communities initiative 2002–03 162,581 96,144 
			 Partnership development fund (PDF) 2001–02 — 12,500 
			 Small retailers in deprived areas (SRDA) 2003–04 21,023 21,023 
			 Building safer communities fund (BSC) 2003–04 455,792 304,805 
			 Basic command unit fund (BCU) 2003–04 433,000 232,000 
		
	
	Interventions funded by crime reduction allocations included:
	Westminster: CCTV cameras and a mobile CCTV system, an initiative to tackle drug related crime from a health, community and environmental angle, street wardens and action against drugs.
	Kensington and Chelsea: CCTV in North Kensington crime hot spots and purchase of a mobile CCTV van, tackling vandalism and anti-social behaviour in the Delgarno Neighbourhood, a hardening and repair of burgled properties initiative, action against drugs aimed at young people, community outreach on domestic violence and youth diversion programmes.
	Statistics published on the Metropolitan police website show a fall in crime over the past year. Street Crime
	The Metropolitan police service has been part of the street crime initiative since its launch in March 2002. Westminster is one of the priority London street crime boroughs. There were 1,752 robberies in Westminster during 2002–03, a reduction of 36.6 per cent. on 2001–02. In Kensington and Chelsea there were 673 robberies in 2002–03, a reduction of 43.4 per cent. on 2001–02. Overall robbery reduced in London by 21 per cent. comparing 2002–03 with 2001–02.
	Positive Action for Young People (PAYP)
	Central London Connexions was launched in June 2002, following a pilot period. Connexions has provided considerable support to help young people in the Regent's Park and Kensington North area to participate and achieve in education, employment and training in partnership with youth services, schools, colleges and other providers. Personal advisers (PAs) are placed in many voluntary and statutory youth clubs providing support to young people including music, art and sports projects, and through PAs in detached youth work teams.
	PAYP programmes have been particularly successful on Regent's Park and Delgarno estates.
	From April to September 2003, across the boroughs of Camden, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, 11,341 interventions took place with young people through Connexions support to approximately 6,000 young people. An additional 7,184 young people took part in PAYP activities in the area.
	Anti-Social Behaviour
	Westminster: The City of Westminster was granted £25,000 in 2002–03 for a designated controlled drinking areas scheme.
	Kensington and Chelsea: In 2003–04, funding of £22,414 has been allocated from the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit to enable the CDRP to commence recruitment of an anti-social behaviour (ASB) specialist.
	Remaining funds will be used to contribute towards the development of a web-based anti-social behaviour case tracking tool.
	Policing
	Government grant (excluding targeted initiatives) for the Metropolitan police force for 2003–04 is £1,764.05 million, an increase of 5.2 per cent. or £87.73 million over 2002–03.
	On top of this, the Metropolitan police will benefit from a number of targeted initiatives, set out in the table:
	
		Metropolitan police funding— selected specific grants -- £ million
		
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 Total 
		
		
			 Crime fighting fund 43.05 65.89 70.46 179.4 
			 Community support officers — 8 15 23 
			 Airwave — 45.69 15.02 60.71 
			 Street crime — 14.20 8.01 22.21 
		
	
	In addition, the Metropolitan police will also receive in 2003–04:
	£41.24 million in capital funding in 2003–04, plus up to £40 million capital funds for the C3i project.
	The force has also benefited from extra funding for DNA work—around £9.3 million this year.
	£0.20 million from the premises improvement fund.
	£62.0 million funding for counter-terrorism—£15.0 million for community support officers and £47.0 million towards the wider counter-terrorism programme.
	Between 1997 and 2003, the number of police officers in the Metropolitan police force increased from 26,677 to 28,845.
	The introduction of community support officers (CSOs) in 2002 is helping to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on the streets.
	Regent's Park and Kensington North constituency is served by two Operational Command Units (OCUs). Borough of Camden OCU covers Regent's Park. It will have a total of 38 CSOs by the end of March 2004. The OCU of Kensington and Chelsea (of which Kensington North form only a part) will have a total of 42 CSOs by the end of March 2004.
	The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Community Safety Team has allocated an additional 10 CSOs for 2004–05 for the St. Charles Ward in North Kensington. Funding for this has come from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

Drug Crime

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent reports his Department has evaluated on methods to reduce drug crime.

Caroline Flint: As part of the Criminal Justice Interventions Programme, the Government keep the evidence on effective means of tackling drug related crime (both in the UK and abroad) under constant review.
	The Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate has, in the past, undertaken evaluations of initiatives designed to reduce drug related crime, and research reports relating to Drug Testing (and Drug Treatment and Testing Orders), Arrest Referral and prisoners' drug treatment have been published by the Department over the past two years.

Forensic Science Service

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the Forensic Science Service is contracted out to private operators.

Hazel Blears: The Forensic Science Service (FSS) does not contract out work undertaken in provision of forensic science services to the police service and law enforcement agencies to private operators. The FSS uses private operators solely for the supply of non-scientific support services unrelated to forensic sciences.

Forensic Science Service

Harold Best: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where, and for how long, DNA samples are held by the Forensic Science Service.

Hazel Blears: Retention periods depend on the purpose for which the sample was taken, and are as follows:
	Crime scene samples on unsolved cases may be kept indefinitely, especially for the more serious cases. For crime scene samples on solved cases the usual retention period is seven years, but it may be up to 30 years for serious crimes in case of a possible miscarriage of justice.
	Following amendment of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 samples of suspects can now be held indefinitely.
	Where individuals have volunteered to provide a sample for intelligence purposes these may also be retained indefinitely provided the individual has given their written consent for its retention.
	In all cases samples are either stored by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) laboratory that dealt with the case or in the FSS central archive in Birmingham.

Gun Crime

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of gun crimes was drug-related in the last year for which figures are available.

Caroline Flint: Statistics on the proportion of gun crime which is drugs-related are not collected centrally.

Gun Crime

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) cautioned and (b) prosecuted for possession of (i) unlicensed firearms and (ii) shotguns in each of the last five years; in how many instances in each case the offence was limited to possession and not connected with the weapon's use in other crimes; and how many cases related to failure to renew the appropriate certificate.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 12 January 2004
	The available information is given in the following table. The statistics collected centrally do not enable those offences limited to possession to be distinguished from those connected with the weapon's use in other offences. Nor is it known how many cases related to failure to renew the appropriate certificate.
	
		Persons cautioned and those proceeded against for possession of unlicensed firearms, England and Wales
		
			  Possession of unlicensedfirearms Possession of unlicensedshotgun 
			  Persons cautioned Persons proceeded against Persons cautioned Persons proceeded against 
		
		
			 1998 157 350 243 199 
			 1999 147 316 132 118 
			 2000 149 (9)272 242 (9)109 
			 2001 117 217 233 125 
			 2002 94 254 153 112 
		
	
	(9) Excludes figures for Staffordshire.
	Statistics for 2003 will be published in the autumn.

Identity Cards

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what expenditure has been allocated for the (a) assessment and (b) introduction of identity cards in each year from 2003–04 to 2007–08; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: In the current financial year, the Home Office budget for work on identity cards, which also includes work on shorter term measures to counter identity fraud, is £2.5 million.
	Our current best estimates for the three year set-up costs for a scheme are £36 million, £60 million and £90 million. The timing of this expenditure will depend on Parliament's approval of legislation.

IT Contracts

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list information technology contracts in his Department with a value of above £20 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been.

David Blunkett: I am unable to provide the hon. Member with a complete answer as central records are not held on the information sought, and to obtain the requested information in the time given would incur disproportionate cost.
	I am, however, able to provide the following information on information technology contracts let within the last 10 years originally valued at over £20 million by the Home Office and its Agencies (Prison Service, Forensic Science Service and UK Passport Service):
	
		
			 Contract Inception date Fully functional 
		
		
			 1. National Probation Service Information Systems Strategy (NPSIS): implementation of IT infrastructure and casement management applications. Expired. 1994 Infrastructure roll out substantially complete in 2001–2002. 
			 2. NPSIS (National Probation Service Information Systems Strategy): implementation of IT infrastructure and case management applications. October 2001 Infrastructure service handover December 2001, upgrade schedule for completion mid 2004. 
			 3. Core Home Office infrastructure implementation and services (HOITS)?expired. August 1994 November 1994 
			 4. Sirius: successor to HOITS infrastructure services and applications (notably correspondence handling, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and electronic data records management (EDRMS). October 2000 Infrastructure service handover February 2001, correspondence handling complete, ERP and EDRMS in progress. 
			 5. Quantum: Prison Service infrastructure services and applications February 2000 Infrastructure roll out completed mid 2003, application under redevelopment. 
			 6. Casework Programme: Immigration Service infrastructure services and case management system. April 1996 Infrastructure service operational. Main casement application failed and superseded. 
			 7. PASS(10): UK Passport service passport management service. October 1998 End 1999 
			 8. CRB(10): Criminal Records Bureau, application management, records checking and disclosure certificate generation services. August 2000 High level disclosure service started March 2002, low level disclosures pending. 
		
	
	(10) Business service contracts underpinned by IT systems

M6 Toll Road

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who polices the M6 Toll Road; and who is meeting the cost.

Caroline Flint: The M6 Toll Road is policed by the Central Motorway police group (CMPG), which comprises officers from Staffordshire police, Warwickshire police, West Midlands police, and the West Mercia Constabulary. The cost is met from normal police funds.

Merseyside Crime

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what issues have been specified by Merseyside police as affecting the incidence of (a) domestic burglary, (b) vehicle crime and (c) robbery in their local plan.

Hazel Blears: Merseyside Police's Annual Policing Plan 2003–04 sets out how the force will enhance the use of the National Intelligence Model to target criminals and their networks whose operations have a direct impact on volume crime (burglary, vehicle crime and violent crime, including robbery). Lessons from the street crime initiative have been applied to tackling burglary and vehicle crime. Increased use of police powers to stop and search and targeting known offenders have had a positive impact on both burglary and vehicle crime on Merseyside. In addition, the implementation of new burglary packs issued to officers attending reported burglaries and extra work undertaken by crime scene investigators have contributed to improved performance. Feedback from user satisfaction surveys has also enabled the force to tailor its response to communities' needs.

Merseyside Crime Initiative Unit

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the role and work of the Merseyside Street Crime Initiative Unit.

Hazel Blears: Robbery in Merseyside reduced by 5 per cent. in 2002–03 compared to 2001–02. This has been achieved by effective partnership working across all agencies. Overall strategic management of street crime is by the Multi Agency Group (MAG). At an operational level, this is supported by Joint Agency Groups (JAGs) and the Robbery Reduction Team. In the Robbery Reduction Team police and Crown Prosecution Service are co-located and the Premium Service provided.

National Centre for Policing Excellence

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work of the National Centre for Policing Excellence.

Hazel Blears: The National Centre for Policing Excellence (NCPE) was launched in April 2003 to increase the professional capacity of the police service. Its functions include delivering training and advice on specialist law enforcement and technical and analytical support in major crime. It also has a major role in formulating national good practice in operational policing and issuing Codes of Practice and Guidance.
	In 2002–03, it produced a knowledge map on street robbery which has been available to all forces on the Criminal Justice Extranet. A Code of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms and less lethal weapons was issued at the beginning of December 2003.

Police

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring into force section 25 of the Police Reform Act 2002 handling of complaints.

Hazel Blears: Section 25 of the Police Reform Act has already been enacted and was brought into force (except subsection (4) on 1 October 2002. The intention is that the Secretary of State will be making regulations which will come into force on 1 April 2004.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what means police (a) forces and (b) authorities seek to develop a clear understanding of the communities they serve.

Hazel Blears: Under section 96 of the Police Act 1996, police authorities have a statutory obligation to consult with their communities. However, recent research conducted by the Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate concluded that there was scope to enhance engagement with communities.
	Provision of a citizen focused policing service is a key priority within the National Policing Plan, published in November 2003, and is fundamental to the on-going process and direction of police reform. Building a police service that is responsive to the diverse needs of the communities it serves requires police forces to develop a clear understanding of those communities.
	We have invested £1 million in a joint action research project between the Home Office and the Association of Police Authorities to help police authorities and forces engage more effectively with their local communities.
	A major consultation exercise on police reform was launched on 4 November 2003 with the publication of "Policing: Building Safer Communities Together". The broad vision behind the paper is to improve community engagement in policing. It is underpinned by the desire to see local communities play a greater role in policing/community safety decisions and solutions in their neighbourhoods.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the police reform programme launched in 2001.

Hazel Blears: The White Paper, Policing a New Century, published in December 2001, set out the Government's intentions for the future of policing in England and Wales. Good progress has been made in implementing the Police Reform Programme. We now have a clear and understood legislative structure in place under the Police Reform Act 2002 to ensure best practice is embedded in the Service through Regulations, Codes of Practice and Guidance, and, linked to that, the ability to direct forces where their performance is consistently poor.
	There is now a more clear focus on performance management within the Policing Performance Assessment Framework which is being developed, and the Police Standards Unit is working with forces to improve performance and identify good practice. The National Centre for Policing Excellence was established in April 2003.
	As well as record numbers of police officers and police staff, we now have more than 1,900 community support officers (CSO). We have provided the necessary powers for CSOs and police staff to facilitate greater flexibility for forces in the use of resources and to release officers for front line duties. A major pay and conditions package has been implemented to provide a fairer, more flexible and modernised system of pay and rewards.
	The second National Policing Plan was published on 4 November 2003 and sets out the Home Secretary's key policing priorities as well as a strategic framework for local policing plans. The first police science and technology strategy, published in January 2003 provides an overarching vision of how we will address not only our immediate policing needs, but also the future capability. We have invested in the use of new technology. DNA matching and Automatic Numberplate Recognition are important tools to achieve greater effectiveness. The National Intelligence Model is becoming embedded in forces, with the aim that all forces are compliant with the common minimum standards by April 2004.
	Work is under way to develop leadership and management capacity at all levels in the police service. We are working towards creating the new Police Leadership Centre, which will bring together all the strands of work on police leadership.
	Building on these and other successes, we wish to move the reform programme further. On 4 November 2003 we published a consultation document, "Policing: Building Safer Communities Together", in which we set out the broad direction for future reform, aimed particularly at:
	Increasing community engagement.
	Providing greater accountability.
	Improving operational effectiveness in tackling crime, including serious and organised.
	Further modernising the police service.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to close the gap between the best and worst performing police forces.

Hazel Blears: The Home Office's Public Service Agreements commit it to improving the performance of all police forces, including significantly reducing the gap between the best and worst performing forces. The National Policing Plan 2004–07 set out the performance gap target which has been agreed. It is a fixed target requiring each force's performance in reducing crime and investigating crime to be no more than 10 per cent. below that of the average performance of its Most Similar Force comparators by 2005–06.
	All forces are aware of the improvements in performance that are required, and to help police forces and authorities improve police performance and gauge progress, performance data is now available on-line to allow them to access regular updates on performance.
	The Police Standards Unit (PSU) is currently working with forces who have been identified as having specific performance problems to help deliver improvements.
	Programmes of work are developed in consultation with the force and in liaison with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), and are designed to provide practical help to enhance organisational capacity and capability.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the proportion of time spent on frontline duty by the police has changed in the last five years.

Hazel Blears: This information is not available. However, for the first time, all forces will be contributing data towards the calculation of the amount of time spent by police officers on front line duties for the financial year 2003–04. The results of this will be available later this year.
	As indicated in paragraph 2.6 of the National Policing Plan 2004–07, a preliminary assessment of 35 forces outside London for 2002–03 gave an average figure of 61 per cent. This is not a baseline for future years. A number of initiatives are in train including, work force modernisation and reducing bureaucracy that will impact on the amount of time spent on front line policing and the Government look to the police service to ensure the proportion rises.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the effect of the work of the steering group reducing bureaucracy in the police force.

Hazel Blears: I receive regular reports on the work of the Steering Group, co-chaired by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office, which was set up to oversee the work on reducing bureaucracy in the police service. Among the achievements since the Group first met in October 2002, the national roll out of the fixed penalty notice scheme is scheduled to be completed by April 2004; there are currently 19 performance indicators compared with 51 in 1997; over 4,600 forms have been made obsolete in 21 forces; approximately 20 forces are using mobile telephones and handheld computers to cut down on the time officers spend returning to the station to fill in forms; and all 43 forces in England and Wales now have the capacity to undertake video identity parades to speed up the identification of suspects. I am looking to the steering group to make further substantial impact in four key areas in particular over the conning months. These are information technology; work force modernisation; efficiency; and frontline policing activity.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to make the police force an attractive career for ethnic minorities.

Hazel Blears: The Government are committed to achieving a culturally diverse work force in the police service that is representative of the local communities it serves. We are engaged with the leadership of the police service in addressing diversity and promoting race equality in the areas of recruitment, training and development and in the conduct of the officers and staff. We support fully the Commission for Racial Equality's investigation of these issues.
	The National Recruitment Standards programme includes assessment processes which test candidates' attitudes towards race and diversity vigorously through interviews, role play and written assessment. This should exclude anyone with racist tendencies or those who do not respect differences and diversity. Those who do not score sufficiently highly in respect for race and diversity are not offered a job, irrespective of how well they do in the rest of the selection process. These processes are already in place in a number of forces and will be implemented in the remainder of the service by summer 2004. We assess candidates for unacceptable attitudes in every exercise.
	I shall further support this with a new action plan "Breaking Through" which is being launched later this month and which contains a series of actions and examples of promising practice to help forces improve the recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic staff.
	A new round of the CouldYou Police recruitment campaign has just been launched aimed, in particular, at the recruitment of women and ethnic minorities. The campaign is supported by outreach work pilots in four forces aimed at increasing the interest of ethnic minority communities in the police service as a credible and rewarding career choice.
	Fundamental changes to the way in which probationer constables are trained are under way. The focus will be on delivery of practice-based training within the local community rather than in residential police training centres. This new approach is already being piloted in several areas of the country. Improvements are also being made to police training generally to improve awareness of race and diversity issues and increase opportunities for community involvement. There will be rigorous assessment of standards.
	There are procedures under the Police Act 1996 and the Police (Misconduct) Regulations 1999 to deal with conduct which falls below the required standard. These procedures can be invoked by way of a complaint from a member of the public or a report or allegation from any other person. This includes any complaint or allegation of racial discrimination or attitudes. The Police Reform Act 2002 introduces a new complaints system to come into force on 1 April 2004, under which serious racial discrimination is a category of a complaint that must be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which will decide how such a complaint will be dealt with.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the targets are for increasing the number of female officers in the most senior ranks of the police force.

Hazel Blears: There are no targets to increase the number of female officers in the most senior ranks of the Police Service. Proposals for the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (Annex C of the National Policing Plan 2004–07) include measures of overall strength, retention and promotion of female officers.

Police

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research has been conducted on the attitude of the public towards the police, with particular reference to racism.

Hazel Blears: The British Crime Survey and the Home Office Citizenship Survey both ask questions about people's attitudes towards the police and refer to racism. Both surveys establish the ethnic group of the respondents:
	The most recent relevant results from the British Crime Survey can be found in: Crime in England and Wales 2001/2002: Supplementary Volume. Chapter 7. (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/03, Flood-Page and Matthews 2003).
	The most recent relevant results from the Home Office Citizenship Survey can be found in: 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: people, families and communities. Chapters 2 and 3. (Home Office Research Study 270, Attwood et al 2003).
	Other Home Office studies, drawing in the perceptions and experiences of the public, have focused on key issues within police-community relations. These include: The Views of the Public on Stops and Searches (Police Research Series paper 129, Stone and Pettigrew 2000);
	Attitudes of People from Minority Ethnic Communities towards a Career in the Police Service(Police Research Series paper 136, Stone and Tuffin 2000); and
	Public Perceptions of Police Accountability and Decision-making (Home Office On-line Report 38/03, Docking 2003).
	The Home Office is also currently carrying out, or has commissioned, further research in this area. These on-going projects seek to: understand the impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on the police; review the impact of police community and race relations training; examine the police handling of racist incidents; and evaluate the phased implementation of the Lawrence recommendation 61 (the recording of police stops).

Police

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of links between an increase in the number of police officers and a reduction in crime.

Hazel Blears: The number of police officers has increased by 7 per cent. from 127,158 in March 1997 to 136,386 in August 2003. Evidence from the British Crime Survey over a similar period (between 1997 and 2002–03) indicates that burglary has fallen by 39 per cent., vehicle crime by 31 per cent., violent crime by 24 per cent. while crime overall declined by 25 per cent.
	The Government are committed to maximising the benefits of this increase. Working with the Service and others, a police reform agenda focused on community engagement, greater local accountability, operational effectiveness and workforce modernisation will produce further improvements.

Police Funding (Cumbria)

Jack Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from Cumbria Police Authority on the 2004–05 Provisional Grant Settlement; what reply he has sent; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: We received representations from the Treasurer of Cumbria Police Authority on 22 December. The period of consultation on the provisional settlement closed on 9 January. All representations received will be carefully considered and will be taken into account.
	I shall send my right hon. Friend a copy of my reply to Cumbria Police Authority as soon as it is available.

Police Funding (Wales)

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out the budgets for each police force in Wales since 1979 adjusted for inflation figures.

Hazel Blears: The available information is set out in the following table.
	
		£000(11)
		
			  Dyfed Powys Gwent North Wales South Wales 
		
		
			 1990–1(12),(13) 44,554 47,084 62,966 148,702 
			 1991–92(12) 46,890 48,475 67,099 156,126 
			 1992–93(12) 50,335 50,206 71,907 164,102 
			 1993–94(12) 52,056 51,682 72,853 163,391 
			 1994–95(12) 54,935 52,964 75,505 163,944 
			 1995–96 55,188 59,346 78,755 183,311 
			 1996–97 56,037 72,418 79,992 174,381 
			 1997–98 56,075 72,474 80,044 174,500 
			 1998–99 56,586 73,138 80,774 176,090 
			 1999–2000 59,783 76,628 85,362 182,376 
			 2000–01 62,261 80,309 88,625 188,903 
			 2001–02 64,676 82,979 92,000 194,321 
			 2002–03(14) 65,332 84,396 93,455 195,006 
			 2003–04 69,335 89,520 101,850 195,650 
		
	
	(11) Budgets are shown in real terms using Treasury deflator as at 30 September 2003. 2002–03:100.
	(12) Police Authorities in Wales, prior to 1995–96, were not precepting authorities and therefore did not have independent budgets. They received Home Office police grant and levied the rest of the income from their constituent counties. The figures from 1990–91 to 1994–95 represent net current expenditure by police authorities in Wales. Subsequent figures are for police authority budgets.
	(13) Figures are not available for individual police authorities on a consistent basis prior to 1990–91.
	(14) Budgets for 2002–03 are not directly comparable with 2001–02 owing to changes in funding arrangements for NCS/NCIS, which have been funded centrally rather than locally since 2002–03.
	Source:
	Welsh Assembly Government.

Recorded Crime

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what percentage recorded crime levels have changed in the past five years.

Hazel Blears: Police recorded crime is affected by changes in recorded practice. Revisions to the Home Office counting rules in April 1998 and the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002, have resulted in substantially more crimes being recorded. This is because more categories of crime have been introduced into the coverage of recorded crime, and the police are now recording a higher proportion of crimes reported to them.
	When factoring out these changes in order to produce a fairer like-for-like comparison, total recorded crime remained broadly unchanged between 1997–98 and 2002–03.

Stoke Heath Young Offenders Institution

Rudi Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children received into Stoke Heath Young Offenders' Institution in the past year were on the Child Protection Register.

Paul Goggins: The Local Youth Offending Team is in every case where a child is received into a secure training facility from court required to confirm whether the child's name has been placed on the child protection register. This information assists in the creation of an individual sentence plan.
	Figures are not held centrally or collated locally at Stoke Heath Young Offender Institution. Examination of the records of all the young people who have been received into that establishment over the past year could not be undertaken without disproportionate cost.

Terrorism Act

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been arrested for terrorist offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 since 11 September 2001; and how many of them (a) have been charged, (b) have been released without charge, (c) have been bailed, (d) are still in custody, (e) were prosecuted in court under the Act, (f) were convicted under the Act and (g) were handed over to immigration officials.

David Blunkett: Police records show that since 11 September 2001, 530 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and that 94 of those have been charged with offences under that Act resulting in five convictions to date.
	54 people have been released directly into the custody of immigration services. A further 71 of those arrested under the Act have been charged under other legislation.
	263 individuals were released without charge or further sanction. Information on any further action taken is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Young Offenders (Education)

Rudi Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether children held in segregation units in young offender institutions attend normal classes for education.

Paul Goggins: All children held in segregation units in young offender institutions are required to be given access to education. They will be given as much access to normal classes as is practicable, taking into account the reasons for their segregation and the risks in each case as well as the facilities and resources available locally.

TRANSPORT

Air Safety

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  which airlines were subject during 2003 to safety assessment of foreign aircraft ramp checks by the Civil Aviation Authority acting on their own initiative rather than at the direction of his Department;
	(2)  if he will list the UK airports at which safety assessment of foreign aircraft ramp checks were carried out during 2003, indicating the number of aircraft checked at each airport;
	(3)  what criteria are used by his Department when deciding which foreign airlines and aircraft should be subject to safety assessment of foreign aircraft ramp checks;
	(4)  how many safety assessment of foreign aircraft ramp checks have been carried out at UK airports on behalf of his Department in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: The Civil Aviation Authority carry out a programme of ramp inspections on the Department's behalf. We discuss that programme regularly with the Authority advising them of any information we have about potential safety concerns relating to particular aircraft, foreign airlines or the oversight provided by foreign regulatory authorities. The Authority organises visits to airports to maximise the number of inspections they can carry out, taking account of priorities as they arise; during such visits the Authority may inspect any aircraft which gives ground for concern. The Authority also makes specific visits for inspections of particular flights when requested to do so.
	Inspections are carried out at the most appropriate airport, taking into account the routes operated by the airlines concerned. In 2003, inspections took place at the
	following airports:
	
		
			 Airport Number of safety inspections 
		
		
			 Birmingham 1 
			 Bournemouth 1 
			 Bristol 8 
			 Cardiff 1 
			 East Midlands 2 
			 Edinburgh 1 
			 Exeter 9 
			 Filton 1 
			 Glasgow 3 
			 Liverpool 1 
			 London City 12 
			 London Gatwick 51 
			 London Heathrow 76 
			 London Luton 11 
			 London Stansted 17 
			 Manchester 13 
			 Mansion 2 
			 Norwich 2 
			 Prestwick 1 
		
	
	Note:
	These figures include 10 inspections of corporate and privately operated aircraft.
	I refer to my answer to the hon. Member of 8 January 2004, Official Report, column 499W, which lists those airlines which have had permits to operate to the UK refused or suspended. In the case of other airlines we have not had the need to suspend or restrict permits and therefore it would not be appropriate to publish their names.
	The number of inspections carried out on aircraft operated by foreign airlines in the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of Inspections 
		
		
			 1999 103 
			 2000 256 
			 2001 221 
			 2002 193 
			 2003 203

Air Safety

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will list the foreign airlines that are not banned from UK airspace but are banned from airspace elsewhere in Europe, indicating (a) where, (b) when and (c) for what reason these bans operated; and whether any of these airlines have operated in UK airspace while banned elsewhere;
	(2)  pursuant to his answers of 8 January 2004, Official Report, columns 429–30W, on British airspace, whether the standards that have to be met for the issue of a permit to operate a foreign aircraft in UK airspace are above the minimum required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation;
	(3)  on British airspace, if he will list the foreign airlines that would be banned from UK airspace if they were to apply for a permit;
	(4)  on British airspace, which foreign airlines would have had their applications for a permit turned down had they made one since January 2000.

Tony McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 12 January 2004. Official Report, columns 545–46W, given to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso). This explains the basis on which international civil aviation is governed and the conditions on which UK permits are issued to foreign airlines. That answer also explains why we are not able to give detailed information on permit action taken elsewhere in Europe.
	Each application for a permit is considered on its merits and we could not prejudge our reaction to applications that foreign airlines might make in the future. There are a variety of reasons why permits have been refused, suspended or revoked and a range of permit restrictions possible, as demonstrated in the list included in the answer I gave the hon. Member on 8 January 2004, Official Report, column 429W. The decisions not to allow services under the safety supervision of Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia and Tajikistan to operate to the UK were taken on the basis of information received about the ability of the aeronautical authorities of those countries to oversee the safety of their airlines and/or aircraft on their register. Those concerns continue, but we would be prepared to reconsider our position in the light of any additional information.
	In the case of Gambia, we have issued a permit to Gambian International Airlines but only on the basis that the airline contracts with an acceptable non-Gambian airline to provide the aircraft and crew and to operate the flights on its behalf (called wet-leasing). In this case it has wet-leased an aircraft from Futura of Spain, and the Spanish authorities retain responsibility for the safety and operation of the aircraft.

Air Safety

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the foreign airlines whose aircraft have been subject to one or more safety assessment of foreign aircraft ramp checks during each of the past five years indicating how many aircraft of each airline were tested.

Tony McNulty: The Civil Aviation Authority carry out a programme of ramp inspections on the Department's behalf. We discuss that programme regularly with the Authority advising them of any information we have about potential safety concerns relating to particular aircraft, foreign airlines or the oversight provided by foreign regulatory authorities. The Authority organises visits to airports to maximise the number of inspections they can carry out, taking account of priorities as they arise; during such visits the Authority may inspect any aircraft which gives ground for concern. The Authority also makes specific visits for inspections of particular flights when requested to do so.
	Inspections are carried out at the most appropriate airport, taking into account the routes operated by the airlines concerned. In 2003, inspections took place at the following airports:
	
		
			 Airport Number of safety inspections 
		
		
			 Birmingham 1 
			 Bournemouth 1 
			 Bristol 8 
			 Cardiff 1 
			 East Midlands 2 
			 Edinburgh 1 
			 Exeter 9 
			 Filton 1 
			 Glasgow 3 
			 Liverpool 1 
			 London City 12 
			 London Gatwick 51 
			 London Heathrow 76 
			 London Luton 11 
			 London Stansted 17 
			 Manchester 13 
			 Mansion 2 
			 Norwich 2 
			 Prestwick 1 
		
	
	These figures include 10 inspections of corporate and privately operated aircraft.
	I refer to my answer to the hon. Member of 8 January 2004, Official Report, column 499W, which lists those airlines which have had permits to operate to the UK refused or suspended. In the case of other airlines we have not had the need to suspend or restrict permits and therefore it would not be appropriate to publish their names.
	The number of inspections carried out on aircraft operated by foreign airlines in the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of inspections 
		
		
			 1999 103 
			 2000 256 
			 2001 221 
			 2002 193 
			 2003 203

Buses

Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list, at constant prices, the spending on public transport support for buses for each year since 1985 in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) English metropolitan areas outside London, (e) shire counties and (f) London.

Tony McNulty: The information, in constant 2002–03 prices, is shown in the following table.
	
		£ million
		
			  England Scotland Wales English Met areas English shire counties London 
		
		
			 1985–86 841 50 22 406 170 264 
			 1986–87 677 58 17 329 143 205 
			 1987–88 526 38 14 218 122 187 
			 1988–89 498 34 12 182 127 189 
			 1989–90 408 24 13 152 128 128 
			 1990–91 423 17 13 139 128 155 
			 1991–92 486 26 13 146 131 209 
			 1992–93 472 26 13 140 119 213 
			 1993–94 307 27 11 126 107 74 
			 1994–95 297 27 10 123 107 67 
			 1995–96 259 30 11 119 104 35 
			 1996–97 233 31 10 123 97 14 
			 1997–98 209 26 11 111 97 1 
			 1998–99 255 25 12 121 121 13 
			 1999–2000 263 27 14 116 136 11 
			 2000–01 353 29 16 125 142 87 
			 2001–02 458 33 17 123 145 190 
			 2002–03(15) 618 32 17 121 142 355 
		
	
	(15) Provisional.

Buses

Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has collated on the change in the number of passenger journeys by bus for each year since 1985 in each English metropolitan area outside London.

Tony McNulty: The information is shown in the following table.
	
		Million
		
			  Tyne and Wear West Yorkshire South Yorkshire Merseyside Greater Manchester West Midlands 
		
		
			 1985–86 287 291 341 305 357 487 
			 1986–87 257 304 268 258 267 456 
			 1987–88 243 297 237 219 310 426 
			 1988–89 247 296 225 207 297 422 
			 1989–90 244 294 192 211 291 417 
			 1990–91 230 263 191 191 270 403 
			 1991–92 220 240 177 191 260 389 
			 1992–93 189 231 176 178 252 356 
			 1993–94 182 232 166 166 236 355 
			 1994–95 170 222 163 168 226 381 
			 1995–96 168 219 158 165 224 358 
			 1996–97 165 207 150 163 212 349 
			 1997–98 161 196 144 151 211 368 
			 1998–99 154 186 135 150 217 353 
			 1999–2000 151 180 130 149 199 353 
			 2000–01 146 189 131 142 204 353 
			 2001–02 141 181 128 142 205 352 
			 2002–03(16) 138 181 128 144 209 350 
		
	
	(16) Provisional

Motorways

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list in respect of each motorway the number of occasions in each of the last five years when a carriageway has been closed for more than two hours as a result of (a) an accident and (b) an incident other than an accident.

David Jamieson: holding answer 5 January 2004
	The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Commercial Vehicle Parking

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the availability of overnight parking facilities for commercial vehicles in each region of the UK.

David Jamieson: The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 confers powers on local authorities to make provision for on and off street parking facilities, including facilities for commercial vehicles if these are considered necessary. We have not commissioned any research to evaluate the availability of overnight parking facilities for commercial vehicles. However, the Highways Agency is engaged in a pilot study in conjunction with the road haulage industry aimed at providing dedicated rest areas for lorry drivers away from the motorway network.

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of relocation of staff to North Staffordshire; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of proposals to relocate Government jobs on the Department's ability to meet (a) departmental policy objectives and (b) departmental public service agreements;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of the effect of possible relocation of staff in his Department to North Staffordshire on (a) job creation, (b) sustainable development, (c) the local economy and (d) tackling regional economic disparities; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what plans he has to establish procedures for assessing the impact of possible re-location of staff in his Department to the regions; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary on 12 January 2004, Official Report, column 516W.

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff in his Department work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire.

Tony McNulty: The latest available figures for the number of staff in the Department for Transport that work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Location Number of staff 
		
		
			 West Midlands 1,127 
			 North Staffordshire 38 
			 Total 1,165

Lane Rental Trials

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the Government intends to consult interested parties on next steps when the lane rental trials in Camden and Middlesbrough end.

David Jamieson: The lane rental trials in Camden and Middlesbrough are due to end on 31 March. Any decision on whether to roll out lane rental more widely will need to be taken in the context of changes to the existing legislative regime for utility street works resulting from the Traffic Management Bill, including the introduction of permit schemes. We intend consulting widely with utilities, local authorities, utility regulators and other interested parties when drawing up regulations which would allow for permit schemes, and we would consult similarly widely before extending lane rental.

M5

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the resurfacing schedule for the M5; and what account it takes of requests to deal with excessive noise nuisance.

David Jamieson: Resurfacing schedules are established on an annual basis, based upon an assessment of surface condition and availability of funds. Next year's resurfacing will be determined as part of the Highways Agency's business plan development.
	The 10 Year Plan for Transport includes a commitment to use quieter surfacing materials where possible during routine resurfacing. Other noise reduction measures, such as noise fencing, are considered on an individual basis.

Railways

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much public subsidy was given to each railway company in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: Details of the subsidy paid to each train operating company, in each year, are set out in the Strategic Rail Authority's annual report, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Railways

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected investment in rail infrastructure is in Scotland over the next five years.

Tony McNulty: Network Rail's June 2003 Business Plan sets out £1.6 billion of investment in maintenance and renewals for Scottish routes (excluding the West Coast Main Line and East Coast Main Line in Scotland) over the period 2004–05 to 2008–09. The Business Plan is currently being reviewed to take into account the Rail Regulator's Final Conclusions on the Interim Review of Track Access Charges, which were published on 12 December 2003. The SRA's investment proposals are set out in the Strategic Plan. The latest edition was published last year and is available in the House Library. In addition, the Scottish Executive may facilitate the development and improvement of passenger rail services.

Scotrail

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much Government funding is provided to Scotrail in 2003–04 in respect of its sleeper services to London.

Tony McNulty: This is a matter for the Scottish Executive, which is responsible for the franchise arrangements for cross-border sleeper services.

Speed Cameras

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much of the money raised in fines by the Essex Safety Camera Partnership was spent on traffic-calming measures and other safety projects in Essex, other than the installation and operating of speed cameras, in each of the last six years for (a) Billericay and district, (b) Basildon district and (c) Essex; and what percentage this represented of the total money raised in fines for each year.

David Jamieson: Fine revenue from the cost recovery system can only be used to fund safety camera operations and not for any other purposes. Other funding sources are available to local authorities to use on other road safety measures.

Speed Cameras

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed enforcement cameras have been (a) removed, (b) relocated and (c) disabled as a result of his recent letter to safety camera partnerships; and if he will place a copy of his letter in the Library.

David Jamieson: The letter from the Department for Transport to the partnerships, dated 19 December, was sent by the Head of Road Safety Division. It asked partnerships to confirm that they are adhering strictly to the guidance and rules of the safety camera netting off arrangement in siting the cameras and ensuring all requirements relating to speed limit setting and signing are in place. I shall keep the House informed.
	A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library of the House.

Speed Cameras

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 22 December 2003, Official Report, column 52W, if he will set out in respect of each safety camera partnership the last quarter for which monitoring information and data has been received by (a) his Department and (b) its consultants; and if he will place a copy in the Library.

David Jamieson: The results of the last complete year's monitoring to 31 March 2003 will be contained in the next annual report of the safety camera programme that is due to be published in March and will be placed in the Library of the House.

Traffic Management Bill

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is the policy of the Government that traffic officers appointed under the Traffic Management Bill should be subject to positive vetting.

David Jamieson: The safety and protection of the travelling public is of paramount importance to the Government.
	The level of security and criminal record checks that the Highways Agency is expected to apply are equivalent to those that exist for staff currently employed by the Police service, such as Traffic Police and Community Support Officers.
	As well as undertaking a check against security service records, the Highways Agency is also in the process of registering with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). Registration with the CRB will enable the Agency to pick up all criminal convictions, and carry out checks against relevant departmental and police records.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces Accommodation

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what procedures his Department uses to ensure that service accommodation is managed and maintained to standards that are acceptable to the tenants.

Ivor Caplin: I refer the hon. Member to the Defence Housing Executive's Key Targets for Financial Year 2003–04, set out in my written ministerial statement of 2 July 2003, Official Report, column 19WS. The Key Targets include allocation times, repairs, upgrades and customer satisfaction. Full details are set out in the DHE Corporate Plan 2003, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Army Redress (Appeals)

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the procedures are for (a) officers and (b) other ranks in the Army to appeal against army redress decisions; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: The procedures governing appeals against army redress decisions are contained within section 180 of the Army Act 1955, Chapter 5 of Queen's Regulations and Army General and Administrative Instructions, Volume 2, Chapter 70. Officers and other ranks who make a complaint and who do not obtain the redress to which they think they are entitled, may submit their complaint to the Defence Council (the Army Board acting as the Defence Council). The procedures require the complaint to proceed through a series of levels in the chain of command, any of which may resolve the matter to the satisfaction of the complainant, before it is considered by the Defence Council. If officers do not obtain from the Defence Council the redress they seek, they have the further opportunity to require the Defence Council to make a report on the complaint to Her Majesty and she has the power to look into the case further, acting on the advice of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.

Art Acquisition

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on the acquisition of works of art in each year since 1997, broken down by amounts spent on (a) paintings and (b) sculpture; what the single most expensive piece of art purchased by his Department since 1997 has been; how much it cost; and what the total revenue raised by his Department through sales of works of art has been since 1997.

Ivor Caplin: Since 1997 the Ministry of Defence has purchased one painting—a portrait of Admiral Leach, at a cost of £5,000. No works of sculpture have been purchased, and no works of art have been sold.

Cluster Munitions

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the cluster artillery shells purchased from BAE Systems in 2003 have been used; how many remain in storage; and what the period of possible utility is of the unused ones.

Adam Ingram: No cluster artillery shells purchased from BAE Systems in 2003 have been used in Iraq during Operation Telic. Shells purchased from BAE Systems have been put into store to maintain operational stock levels. The ammunition used during Operation Telic was from a procurement made in 1996; therefore the full quantity ordered remains in storage. This ammunition has a shelf life of 10 years.

Defence Housing Executive

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recourse is available to armed forces personnel who consider that complaints and problems relating to their accommodation have not been dealt with adequately by the Defence Housing Executive.

Ivor Caplin: The Defence Housing Executive (DHE) has a 5-step complaints procedure which directs the occupant through the organisation from local DHE office level to the Chief Executive. If still unsatisfied, the occupant can write to the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel), DHE's owner. This procedure is fully explained in the Occupants Handbook, a copy of which is provided to all occupants of Service family housing.
	Serving personnel are also able to raise matters through their chain of command or make a formal complaint under the Service redress of grievance procedure.
	The DHE Occupants Handbook also lists bodies that may be consulted for independent advice, such as Citizens' Advice Bureaux and Service welfare organisations. Leaflets containing information about complaints are on display in community facilities in DHE estates, and reminders are published from time to time in DHE's customer magazine 'Living in Families Quarters'.

Departmental Advertising

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total expenditure on information campaigns and advertising was for his Department for each year since 1997.

Ivor Caplin: Details of the Ministry of Defence's expenditure on advertising and publicity have historically been included in the annual Departmental Performance Reports, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. For 1996–97 the information is shown on page 49 Cm 3781; for 1997–98, the information is shown on page 49, Cm 4170; for 1999–2000 the information is shown on page 60, Cm 5000; for 2000–01 the information is shown on page 68, Cm 5290 and for 2001–02 the information is shown on page 71, Cm 5661.
	Figures for 1998–99 were not provided in the Annual Performance Report and are as follows:
	
		
			 Category Expenditure (£ million) 
		
		
			 Recruitment  
			 Royal Navy/Royal Fleet Auxiliary 6.65 
			 Army 11.77 
			 Royal Air Force 10.17 
			 Civilian 3.27 
			 PR, marketing and business support services 0.84 
			 Chief of Public Relations expenditure 2.39 
			 Sales promotion 1.06 
			 Scholarships 0.38 
			 National Employers Liaison Committee (Territorial Army) 1.05 
		
	
	The introduction of Resource Accounting and Budgeting in the Ministry of Defence has changed the way we account for and record our expenditure. I can confirm that the final outturn for publicity and recruitment, which includes advertising, for 2002–03 was £52.5 million. However, the detailed breakdown could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Depleted Uranium Oversight Board

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has to reconfigure the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board.

Ivor Caplin: The Ministry of Defence has no proposals to reconfigure the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB).

Flying Hours (RAF Marham)

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many hours on average were flown by RAF pilots based at RAF Marham in each month over the past two years

Adam Ingram: pursuant to the answer, 4 December 2003, Official Report, column 127W
	The information provided was incorrect.
	The information in the following table shows the correct number of hours flown on average by pilots based at RAF Marham, by month. These figures include hours flown by exchange pilots from foreign air forces serving with RAF Squadrons based at the station, as these are not recorded separately. On average there are two such pilots at the station, and they would normally fly at the same rate as RAF pilots. The figures also include hours flown by Marham-based pilots deployed on Operation TELIC, hence the increase in April 2003.
	
		
			 Month Average hours per pilot 
		
		
			 December 2001 12.02 
			 January 2002 18.54 
			 February 2002 15.14 
			 March 2002 19.24 
			 April 2002 18.49 
			 May 2002 19.46 
			 June 2002 17.75 
			 July 2002 16.23 
			 August 2002 15.85 
			 September 2002 19.36 
			 October 2002 20.51 
			 November 2002 14.53 
			 December 2002 12.63 
			 January 2003 18.16 
			 February 2003 11.27 
			 March 2003 10.66 
			 April 2003 27.43 
			 May 2003 16.10 
			 June 2003 21.39 
			 July 2003 20.41 
			 August 2003 14.03 
			 September 2003 17.80 
			 October 2003 18.19

Future Army Structure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Future Army Structure.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the Defence White Paper, 'Delivering Security in a Changing World', published on 11 December 2003, and in particular Chapter 4 'Armed Forces Capabilities', which sets out the latest position on the Future Army Structure.

Iraq

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are being taken to ensure the safety of civilian contractors working for the allied forces in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 November 2003, Official Report, column 758W, to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Rosindell).

IT Contracts

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list information technology contracts in his Department with a value of above £20 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been.

Adam Ingram: This information is not held centrally and could be answered only at disproportionate cost.

Jaguar

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to withdraw the RAF's Jaguar aircraft from service.

Adam Ingram: Based on current predictions it is expected that the RAF's Jaguar fleet will be retired around the end of this decade.

King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the operational role is of the King's Troop, the Royal Horse Artillery;
	(2)  what the cost to public funds in 2003–04 is of the King's Troop, the Royal Horse Artillery;
	(3)  what his plans are for the future of the King's Troop, the Royal Horse Artillery.

Adam Ingram: In addition to its ceremonial role, the King's Troop, the Royal Horse Artillery provides personnel to support the Royal Artillery Corps and other units. Most recently, members of the King's Troop deployed with Close Support and Depth Fire Artillery units on Operation Telic. No changes are currently planned to this role.
	The cost to public funds in the last financial year (2002–03) was £5.78 million. This includes expenditure on pay, building works, food and clothing.

Parliamentary Questions

Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many parliamentary questions to his Department have waited more than four sitting weeks for a reply in Session 2002–03.

Geoff Hoon: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, as a guide, officials have calculated a figure based on the number of parliamentary questions tabled between 8 September to 18 September 2003 and 7 October to 20 November 2003. According to our records, 898 parliamentary questions were tabled during this period and of this number, 34 questions were answered more than four sitting weeks later.
	Defence Ministers aim to answer named day written questions on the day named and ordinary written questions within five sitting days.

Recruitment (Security Clearance)

Harry Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were refused security clearance for entry to (a) the Royal Navy, (b) the Royal Air Force and (c) the Army in each of the last five years.

Adam Ingram: Electronic records capable of showing those refused security clearance for entry to the Services were started during 2001. There is no practical means of obtaining and collating this information for the years prior to 2002. In 2002, six potential Royal Navy recruits, two potential Royal Air Force recruits and 38 potential Army recruits were refused security clearance. In 2003, 11 potential Royal Navy recruits, five potential Royal Air Force recruits and 40 potential Army recruits were refused security clearance.

Sea Harrier

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the first Sea Harrier Squadron will be withdrawn from service; and what plans he has for the disposal of the squadron's aircraft.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 June 2003, Official Report, columns 879–80W, to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin).
	The first Sea Harrier Squadron will be withdrawn from service on 31 March 2004.

Service Pensions

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many ex-service personnel who are entitled to a preserved pension are not claiming that to which they are entitled.

Ivor Caplin: The total number of pensions currently in payment under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme is in the region of 342,000 (this includes pensions in payment to former Service personnel, their spouses and dependants). As at 30 November 2003, 504 ex-service personnel across the three Services have not claimed a preserved pension award to which they were entitled at age 60.

Tornado

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the RAF's last Tornado GR4 aircraft are expected to be retired; what aircraft type is earmarked to replace the Tornado GR4 in its role; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: We currently expect the Tornado GR4 to leave service around the end of the next decade.
	The Future Offensive Air System is planned to replace the offensive air capability currently provided by the Tornado GR4. No final decision has been taken on how the Future Offensive Air System requirement might best be met. We are currently looking at a potential mix of platforms including Long Range Cruise Missiles, Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles and manned aircraft.

Unexploded Cluster Bombs

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much compensation is paid to families of (a) adults and (b) children under 16 years of age, who are (i) killed and (ii) injured as a result of unexploded British cluster bombs in (A) Kosovo, (B) Afghanistan and (C) Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: When compensation claims are submitted, they are considered on the basis of whether or not the Ministry of Defence has a legal liability to pay compensation. Where there is a legal liability to pay compensation, we do so. The amount of compensation paid is calculated on the basis of the severity of the injury together with any financial loss. The amount payable for financial loss to an adult would likely exceed that payable to a juvenile.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Judges (Appeals)

Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the number of successful appeals made against individual judges.

Christopher Leslie: Judicial decisions are not a matter in which the Government should become involved, and the Department for Constitutional Affairs does not routinely monitor the outcome of appeals in relation to decisions made by particular judges. The fact that an appeal has been successful does not in itself entail any criticism of the original judge.

Supreme Court

David Chaytor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what representations he has received on the proposal for the creation of a supreme court.

Christopher Leslie: I have received a range of representations on the new Supreme Court in response to the consultation paper issued last July. Details of responses received will be published shortly.

House of Lords

Peter Luff: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether he plans to have further consultation on his proposals for reform of the House of Lords.

Christopher Leslie: The public consultation on proposals for reform of the House of Lords ended on 12 December, and the responses are being considered. The Government does not intend to repeat this consultation. Beyond this Bill, we have made clear that there is more work to be done.

House of Lords

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Parliamentary under Secretary of State if he will make a statement on his plans for further reform of the House of Lords.

Christopher Leslie: The Government intends to introduce legislation to remove the remaining hereditary peers and place the Appointments Commission on a statutory footing as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The Government has repeatedly stated that this Bill does not mark the end of the road for House of Lords reform.

Court of Protection

David Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent representations he has received about the efficiency of the Court of Protection.

David Lammy: No representations have been received on the court of Protection, but 26 have been made to my noble Friend Lord Filkin on the Public Guardianship Office, which is the administrative arm of the Court, since he took over ministerial responsibility for it last summer.

Solicitors

David Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what initiatives are planned to improve the oversight of supervision of solicitors; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: We expect to appoint a Legal Services Complaints Commissioner with powers to oversee the Law Society's complaints handling in the very near future. The powers of the LSCC can include: setting targets for the handling of complaints; making recommendations about complaints handling; requiring a failing body to submit a plan for complaints handling and levying fines if the body fails to submit a plan or comply with the agreed plan to improve complaints handling.

Witnesses and Victims (Court Evidence)

Betty Williams: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs, what measures are being taken to encourage witnesses and victims to come forward to give evidence in court.

Christopher Leslie: Last July, the Government published a National Strategy setting out the steps we are taking to deliver improved services to victims and witnesses in the Criminal Justice System.
	At its heart is the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill, introduced last November and containing a number of measures aimed at encouraging more witnesses to come to court and give evidence.

Correspondence

John Wilkinson: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if the Lord Chancellor will answer the letter to him from the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood dated 28 November 2003, regarding the case of his constituent, Mr. J. Lawrence.

Christopher Leslie: My Department is currently considering the matters raised by the hon. Member in his letter of 28 November 2003. The Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

IT Contracts

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list information technology contracts in his Department with a value of above £20 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been.

Christopher Leslie: The information for my Department is as follows:
	LOCCS (various court-based IT systems):
	The EDS (LOGCS) contract was awarded to EDS in September 1996, to provide IT systems to Crown and county courts. The lifetime cost of the contract is assessed at £210 million.
	The initial rollout of equipment to courts was completed in August 2001. The contract was fully functional from award. The contract includes provisions to test software prior to release, and to fix software 'bugs' which are attributable to supplier software.
	The LOCCS rollout was completed to time, and subsequent major work programmes have been delivered to time.
	A major provision of new IT equipment to the Crown Court (and those county courts co-located with crown court buildings) under the LOCCS contract was agreed in 2003. This is part of the Government's commitment to modernising the Criminal Justice System. This programme of change had replaced the equipment and significantly enhanced the IT functionality available at 31 Crown and County Court centres by the end of 2003 and is on schedule to be completed in all of the 109 sites within scope by 2006. An extension to this rollout of a further 59 stand alone county courts is being planned. These additional sites will also be completed in 2006. ARAMIS (Resource Accounting and Management Information System):
	This is a PFI contract for the provision of accounting, financial, HR/payroll and management information services. It was awarded in December 1997 and runs until January 2007. Its current anticipated life-time cost is £207.7 million, which includes enhancements to the service during 2003.
	Most services have IT elements and are delivered across an IT infrastructure provided through the contract. However, the IT system elements of the contract are not separated out from the main business functions. All the services are being provided within the lifetime of the contract, and major work programmes have been delivered to time. Debugging of the IT system elements is a process which continues through the lifetime of the contract.
	Libra (magistrates' courts IT systems):
	The original contract with Fujitsu Systems for Libra included provision for infrastructure and Office Automation, a bespoke case management software application and systems integration.
	This contract with Fujitsu Services for the delivery of Libra has been varied twice since it was awarded in December 1998. This has resulted in changes to the baseline making it inappropriate to compare spend to date across an original and two variants of the contract. The actual spend against the original contract can be summarised as follows:
	Original ICL Contract December 1998: Total contracted charges expected to arise over contract life of 10.5 years— £184 million
	Negotiated ICL Contract May 2000: Total contracted charges expected to arise over contract life of 14.5 years—£319 million
	Negotiated Fujitsu Services Contract July 2002: Total contract charges expected to arise over contract life of 8.5 years— £232 million
	Total contracted charges paid by year ending December 2003—£127 million
	Libra is now being sourced through three separate contracts, one to provide the underlying infrastructure and Office Automation Services, one to supply a new case management application and the third to deploy that application and integrate all systems. These include, where necessary, provisions to test the software and to fix any "bugs" which are attributable to supplier software prior to release.
	The contract signed with Fujitsu Services in July 2002 included the provision of Libra infrastructure and Office Automation only. The roll-out of these was successfully completed in September 2003.
	A further contract was signed with STL in January 2003 for £37 million to provide a case management software application. The first release of this application is due in November 2004 with two further enhancements to be completed before November 2005. STL will continue to provide support and enhancement services through to 2008.
	A contract was also signed with Accenture in October 2003 for £38 million to deploy the new application to the Magistrates' courts (planned completion by the end of 2005) and to provide on-going systems integration services through to 2008.

Ministerial Meetings

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs on how many occasions the Secretary of State met the Secretary of State for Home Affairs to discuss (a) asylum seekers and (b) reform of the criminal justice system in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: In the last 12 months the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs has met the Secretary of State for Home Affairs to discuss asylum seekers on eight separate occasions and on 15 separate occasions to discuss reform of the criminal justice system. They will also have discussed these issues in the context of other meetings.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Payments (Pensioners)

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the amount of unclaimed benefits due to pensioners.

Malcolm Wicks: The latest estimates of the amount of unclaimed benefits for pensioners eligible for income-related benefits relate to financial year 2000–01. These cover Minimum Income Guarantee, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and are available in the DWP report "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-up in 2000–01". A copy of the publication is held in the Library. Statistics covering 2001–02 will be released in February.
	No estimates are available of the amount of 'unclaimed' State Pension. This is because anyone eligible for a State Pension can choose to defer taking it, and then receive a higher amount once they begin claiming. Therefore, pension that is so far unclaimed may be being deliberately deferred.
	Information relating to unclaimed disability benefits is not available.
	We are unable to provide any reliable estimate of the number of unclaimed Winter Fuel Payments because some people aged 60 or over are excluded, others choose not to claim and payments are based on household composition. However, most people are paid automatically.

Child Support Agency

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions further to the letter to the hon. Member for Wycombe of 18 December 2003, from Doug Smith, Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency, for what reason it is not possible to provide information concerning anomalies, inaccuracies and incomplete data contained in records held by the Child Support Agency before the CSA's data migration strategy is finalised.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Paul Goodman, dated 13 January 2004
	In replying to your recent Parliamentary questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	In response to my reply to you dated 18 December 2003 you asked for the reason why it is not possible to provide information concerning anomalies, inaccuracies and incomplete data contained in records held by the Child Support Agency before the CSA's data migration strategy is finalised.
	That is because as part of finalising the data migration strategy we are continuing to research the likely number of "anomalies, inaccuracies and incomplete data" associated with each of the options being explored.

Disability Living Allowance

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sufferers from (a) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and (b) Multiple Sclerosis were awarded disability living allowance in the last five years; and what percentage of those applying that represented in each case.

Maria Eagle: The required information is in the following table.
	
		Number of new awards each year to people whose main disabling condition is Multiple Sclerosis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- Thousand
		
			 Year ending All new awards New awards where main disabling condition is Multiple Sclerosis Percentage ofnew awards New awards where main disabling condition is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Percentage ofnew awards 
		
		
			 31 August 1999 218.9 3.1 1.4 1.5 0.7 
			 31 August 2000 226.1 3.5 1.5 1.7 0.7 
			 31 August 2001 250.4 3.5 1.4 2.0 0.8 
			 31 August 2002 256.0 3.1 1.2 2.3 0.9 
			 31 August 2003 262.5 2.8 1.1 2.2 0.8 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are in thousands and rounded to the nearest hundred.
	2. Total number of applications by disabling condition are unavailable.
	3. In order to count 'sufferers', people with multiple awards during the year are counted only once.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample.

Disability Living Allowance

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on chronic fatigue syndrome in relation to benefits;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the suitability of Disability Living Allowance application forms for those suffering from variable conditions;
	(3)  how many officials dealing with Disability Living Allowance have specialist knowledge of chronic fatigue syndrome;
	(4)  what recent discussions he has had with the Disability Living Allowance Appeals Service on how to deal with variable conditions.

Maria Eagle: People with chronic fatigue syndrome are entitled to social security benefits if they meet the usual qualifying conditions for them. For Disability Living Allowance, entitlement depends on the effects that severe physical or mental disability have on a person's need for personal care and/or their ability to walk, and not on particular disabilities or diagnoses.
	The Disability Living Allowance claim form is designed to enable all disabled people to give full details of the effects of their disabilities on their need for personal care and ability to walk, and specifically asks for as much detail as possible about variations in their condition. In view of the concern disabled people have expressed about the length and complexity of the form, we are developing and trialling a number of new style claim packs which will give even better opportunities for people to detail how their disabilities affect them on a day to day basis.
	Some 1,180 decision makers decide claims for Disability Living Allowance. All of them receive specific training on the causes, manifestations and management of chronic fatigue syndrome. Guidance about the effects of particular disabilities is available to decision makers in the Disability Handbook published by the Department's Corporate Medical Group. The section on chronic fatigue syndrome was written and compiled following consultation with experts in this area of medicine including the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Association. Decision makers can also seek advice from the Department's medical services doctors, all of whom are trained disability analysts with specialist knowledge of assessing the effects of disability and who receive specific guidance on assessing the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome as one of their training modules.
	UKHL 44) confirmed that the correct approach to entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for people with variable conditions is to take a "broad view". This judgment is binding on both decision makers and the Appeals Service.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Business Start-ups

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to help people in the North East who are 50 and over who are not working to set up their own businesses.

Jacqui Smith: Self-employment provision is delivered on behalf of the Government primarily through the Small Business Service by Business Link Operators, and their network of providers.
	This provision is aimed at all who want to start-up, without any form of prejudice, and regardless of their employment status. They work hard to create effective and efficient referral mechanisms (commonly known as brokerage) to ensure that each customer gets appropriate support for their needs—regardless of ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation or residential location.
	Business Links in the NE work with all potential partners and stakeholders, including Jobcentre Plus, who deliver the self-employment option of New Deal 50+ through their network of providers.
	The standard model in New Deal provides:
	An initial awareness session for potential participants during the New Deal "Gateway" period;
	A period of supported business planning with a business expert, and
	A period of "test trading", whereby participants start their business while continuing to receive benefits to help them over any initial transitional hurdles. This period can last up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
	New Deal is just one of many support programmes for budding entrepreneurs. A range of initiatives exist within programmes, focussed upon "deprived areas" (Employment Zones, Action Teams and New Deal for Communities) and groups, and advice and support is also provided by the Small Business Service (DTI), with funding from the European Social Fund and the Prince's Trust Business Programme (which is partly funded by DWP) underpinning much of the support.
	NE Business Links all seek to provide on-going support for all who come through this process.
	The Regional Development Agency, One North East are currently providing funding to the national organisation for promoting enterprise amongst the over 50s, PRIME to the tune of £185,550 to provide assistance to promote/assist self employment/business start-up to people over 50 in the North East.
	This has a special focus on those who are economically inactive, unemployed, and/or a financially and socially excluded background.
	This is delivered thought local partner organisations which contract with PRIME to supply marketing and outreach programmes, as well as business start-up services from pre-start up advice through to post start-up support and mentoring.
	The project also makes available PRIME loans to provide "last resort" start-up finance to non-working people over the age of 50 for promising business ventures. ONE NE's funding also provides the resources for the PRIME regional development officer, who has specific responsibility to co-ordinate delivery of the PRIME initiative in the North East region. It also provides financial incentives to PRIME loan associates and their approved contractees to target the economically inactive and unemployed over 50s. Business Link Tees Valley, which covers my hon. Friend's constituency, is one such loan associate.
	NE Business Links actively work with their networks of enterprise training and development providers to ensure that information, advice and assistance is provided to people aged above 50, which match their individual circumstances. The PRIME scheme is introduced to people where appropriate.

Business Support Schemes

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was been spent on (a) regional venture capital funds, (b) Faraday Centres, (c) University Challenge Seed Funds, (d) SMART schemes and (e) Enterprise areas in each year since each was established.

Nigel Griffiths: The information is as follows:
	(a) Regional Venture Capital Funds:
	Regional Venture Capital Funds were launched in 2001. DTI spend has been as follows:
	
		
			 Year £ million 
		
		
			 2001–02 2.1 
			 2002–03 9.1 
			 Total 11.1 
		
	
	(b) Faraday Centres
	There is no Faraday Centres scheme, but the DTI supports Faraday Partnerships. Faraday Partnerships aim to bring new products and processes, based on the UK science base, to the market more effectively. DTI and the Research Councils support 23 of the 24 Faraday Partnerships: the other is supported by the Scottish Executive and DEFRA.
	DTI spend on Faraday Partnerships to date has been:
	
		
			 Year £ 
		
		
			 2000–01 1,915,311 
			 2001–02 3,351,631 
			 2002–03 5,903,343 
			 2003–04(17) 2,904,500 
			 Total 14,074,786 
		
	
	(17) First two quarters
	(c) University Challenge:
	University Challenge has had the following amounts allocated to it:
	
		
			 Year £ million 
		
		
			 1999–2000 10 
			 2000–01 10 
			 2001–02 20 
			 2002–03 5 
		
	
	There are no current plans for any future separate funding for University Challenge. The sorts of activities which UC funded will in future be supported through the expanded Higher Education Innovation Fund.
	(d) Smart (including SPUR):
	DTI expenditure on Smart (including the SPUR scheme which was fully incorporated into Smart in 1997) has been as follows:
	
		£ million
		
			 Financial Year Expenditure  
		
		
			 1988–89 3.0 
			 1989–90 5.0 
			 1990–91 9.0 
			 1991–92 12.3 
			 1992–93 18.0 
			 1993–94 21.5 
			 1994–95 21.9 
			 1995–96 20.1 
			 1996–97 20.5 
			 1997–98 25.8 
			 1998–99 24.9 
			 1999–2000 26.5 
			 2000–01 27.3 
			 2001–02 23.7 
			 2002–03 32.1 
		
	
	(e) Enterprise Areas:
	Enterprise Areas are not a scheme but are a designation of the 1,997 most deprived wards in the UK. A range of policy measures are available to help people and businesses in Enterprise Areas. They provide a focus for local and regional organisations to tackle market failures and the barriers to enterprise that their communities face.
	Government is encouraging key organisations; Local Authorities, RDAs; Business Link Operators and Local Strategic Partnerships to work with the business community to raise awareness of the help and support available and to co-ordinate their activities in order to target their efforts on Enterprise Areas.

Company Administration

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will investigate the fees paid to firms charged with undertaking the receipt of companies into administration.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Neither my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State nor the Chancellor of the Exchequer have any power to intervene in the fees charged by administrators. Rule 2.47 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 sets out the basis for fixing their remuneration and, where it is not fixed by the creditors' committee or the creditors, the administrator may apply to the court.

Debarred Directors

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in what circumstances she is able to take action to debar directors of companies; and what plans she has to extend those powers.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Following a company going into liquidation, administration or administrative receivership or an investigation into its affairs under the Companies Act 1985 or Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, if it appears to the Secretary of State that it is expedient in the public interest, she may apply to the court for an order (or accept an undertaking) under the Companies Directors Disqualification Act 1986 which disqualifies an individual from being a director of any company for a period of up to 15 years.
	The court may also disqualify a director who is guilty of certain offences in relation to companies, persistent breaches of company legislation or a breach of competition law.
	There no plans to amend these powers.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how officials from her Department made contact with the British-based companies alleged to have breached Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development business ethics guidelines in the last report of the UN Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of the Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; what responses have been received so far; whether responses will be placed in the Library; and if she will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises contacted some of the companies mentioned in Schedule 3 of the UN Panel report directly, the remaining companies made contact with the NCP. In all cases this resulted in face-to-face discussions with either the company or their legal representatives. In all cases the companies denied any wrongdoing and indicated their willingness to act in accordance with the OECD Guidelines. In the absence of evidence of specific instances of breaching the Guidelines, the companies have not—been in a position to respond substantively to the allegations by the UN Panel. All communications with the Panel are undertaken within the confidentiality provisions of the Guidelines and consequently the Government will be unable to place a copy of any response in the Library. My hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Mullin) made a statement to the House on 17 December 2003, Official Report, columns 142–44WS, regarding the UN Panel of Experts report and I have nothing to add to that statement at this time.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response her Department has received to its request to the UN Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of the Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for further information and evidence on the allegations against British-based companies contained in its last report; whether this information can still be provided by the UN following the disbandment of the Panel of Experts on 31 October 2003; what the process is for obtaining information from a UN Panel of Experts which has been disbanded; if she will place a copy of her Department's request to the UN Panel of Experts' response in the Library once it is received; whether her Department made representations to the UN with regard to the disbandment of the Panel; and if she will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Following oral requests by the UK Mission at the UN to the Chairman of the Panel of Experts for evidence of specific instances of breaching the OECD Guidelines, a letter was sent to the UN Secretariat on 17 November and resent again a week later. To date there has been no reply to either letter.
	The National Contact Point (NCP) has repeatedly attempted to telephone the Political Secretary to the Panel and has left messages without response. Consequently we are about to make further representations to Ambassador Kassem who chaired the panel to provide the necessary evidence.
	Members of the panel indicated in April 2003 that they were in possession of a good deal of documentary evidence, none of which has, thus far, been provided. We believe the disbanding of the panel should not necessarily affect the early availability or provision of this documentation. As you will be aware from the ministerial statement made by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 17 December 2003, Official Report, columns 142–44WS, NCPs from all countries involved have been assured that this information would be provided and are frustrated that this has not yet happened.
	All communications with the Panel have been conducted under the confidentiality provisions of the Guidelines and consequently the Government will be unable to place a copy of the request, or any response, in the Library.
	My department made no representations to the UN with regard to the disbandment of the Panel, whose original time-limited mandate had already been extended on several occasions

Departmental Grants

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent by her Department in establishing the Benchmark Index for business.

Nigel Griffiths: £4 million was spent before this financial year, with a further £0.5 million allocated up to 31 March 2004.
	The DTI Small Business Service's Benchmark Index service enables companies to assess where they stand against their competitors in about 80 different aspects of performance. Around 9,000 benchmarks have been carried out.

Departmental Grants

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding has been provided by her Department to fund the Connect website for small businesses.

Nigel Griffiths: The CONNECT website has been funded to a total of £125,000.

Departmental Relocation

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in her Department work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire.

Patricia Hewitt: Three hundred and eighty nine DTI staff work in the West Midlands and a further 25 in Staffordshire.

ECGD

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which unrecovered claims outstanding with the Export Credits Guarantee Department her Department has established as unrecoverable; who the debtor is in each case; what the amount of outstanding debt is in each case; and what the project type is.

Mike O'Brien: It would not be possible to provide the majority of this information except at disproportionate cost. Some of the information could not be disclosed in any event, as to do so could prejudice negotiations ECGD is having or will have about recovering debt. Furthermore, it is only possible to say with confidence what is unrecoverable once recovery action is complete.

Economic Partnership Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

Mike O'Brien: The requirement for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations is set out in the EU/ACP Cotonou Agreement. No EPA has yet been agreed between the EU and an ACP region. Phase 1 of the negotiations began in September 2002. The EU announced the launch of EPA negotiations with the Western and Central African regions—CEMAC (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) and ECOWAS (Economic Community of Western African States) in October 2003. Launches of negotiations between the EU and other ACP regions are expected to take place later this year. EPAs are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2008.

Economic Partnership Agreements

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effect of the economic partnership agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries on the economies of the (a) ACP countries and (b) European Union members.

Mike O'Brien: My officials regularly seek progress updates from EU (European Union) officials on the required Sustainable Impact Assessments on the effect of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. The first phase of this work is currently being finalised by the EU and is expected to be published on the EU's website later this month. My officials will liaise with the EU on issues arising from this assessment work.

Electrical Waste Directive

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the implications of the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive for (a) manufacturers and (b) retailers.

Stephen Timms: The implications of the EU directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) for local authorities, manufacturers, retailers and others are set out in a consultation paper which the Government published on 25 November 2003. This is available at or may be downloaded from the Department's website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/index.htm. Copies are available in the House Library.
	This consultation paper invites views on the Government's preferred approach to implementing the directive. It includes proposals for implementation of the directive's provisions on producer responsibility and retailer take-back.
	The WEEE directive places no obligations on local authorities. The Government have made clear that there will be no new unfinanced burdens on local authorities as a result of the directive. However, the Government aim to encourage increased separate collection of WEEE in line with the directive's objectives and, in this context, it makes sense to build on existing collection activity at civic amenity sites. The Government wish to encourage local authorities to consider upgrading and/or introducing WEEE collection facilities at their amenity sites. It is proposed that money will be made available, via a fund, into which local authorities may bid to finance improved or greater separate collection of WEEE at their civic amenity sites.
	The consultation suggests that this fund would be provided through a retailer take-back compliance scheme. The Government propose that the retailer scheme should provide funding initially of at least £5 million for civic amenity site upgrades in each of the five financial years between 2005–10, with an interim review in 2008, when the directive is expected to be revised. It is expected that most of the early expenditure would relate to capital costs and any initial operating costs.
	The Government have included in its consultation package a report by consultants Network Recycling on the scope for upgrading and expanding WEEE collection at civic amenity sites around the UK. In summary, this report indicates that over half of civic amenity sites currently collect some WEEE and that there is significant scope for expanding this on the basis of site space available. It suggests that the baseline costs of such upgrades are in the region of £6–12 million, depending on the approach taken; and that on-going staffing and training costs could be in the region of £4–9 million per annum.

Energy Consumption

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much energy was consumed per person in (a) the UK and (b) other EU countries in 2001.

Stephen Timms: Data on EU and worldwide energy consumption are collated annually by the International Energy Agency. The final consumption data for all EU countries relating to 2001, are shown in the table. Final consumption excludes energy used for transformation into other forms of energy.
	
		
			 Country Final consumption of energy per person, in tonnes of oil equivalent during 2001 
		
		
			 Austria 3.17 
			 Belgium 4.19 
			 Denmark 2.83 
			 Finland 4.86 
			 France 2.89 
			 Germany 2.99 
			 Greece 1.83 
			 Ireland 3.05 
			 Italy 2.32 
			 Luxembourg 8.55 
			 Netherlands 3.76 
			 Portugal 1.95 
			 Spain 2.32 
			 Sweden 3.92 
			 UK 2.75 
			 Average for all EU countries 2.82

Energy Efficiency

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by how much energy efficiency has improved in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales in each year since 1997.

Ben Bradshaw: I have been asked to reply.
	At present, figures are available only for the household sector, and for the UK as a whole. Figures for UK industry will be available in the spring. The household figures are:
	
		Household energy efficiency
		
			  Improvement on previous year (percentage) 
		
		
			 1997 2.2 
			 1998 0.5 
			 1999 1.3 
			 2000 2.1 
			 2001 2.5 
			 2002 2.5 
		
	
	The figures for 2002 are provisional.
	The figures fluctuate considerably from year to year, but no more than historically, with the average annual improvement over this particular period very similar to that for the whole period from 1990, around 1.7 per cent. pa.

Energy Research and Development

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent on research, demonstration and development, since July 2001, on (a) active solar power, (b) passive solar power, (c) wave power, (d) tidal power, (e) geothermal powers, (f) onshore wind powers, (g) offshore wind powers, (h) biomass energy, (i) hydrogen conversion technologies, (j) fuel cells, (k) nuclear fission, (l) nuclear fusion, (m) clean coal, (n) combined heat and power and (o) combined-cycle gas by (i) the Department and (ii) relevant publicly owned utilities in each year since 1991; and what payments have been made to (A) Euratom, (B) the European Commission's joint research centres and (C) the International Atomic Energy Agency in each year since 1991.

Stephen Timms: Available information is set out in the tables.
	
		£ million
		
			  1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 Solar—Active (including PV) 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.7 1.7 2.0 5.3 
			 Solar—Passive 2.8 2.6 2.9 2.2 1.6 1.5 1.3 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Wave 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.9 0.9 
			 Tidal 2.4 2.1 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 2.4 
			 Geo Themal 2.0 1.5 1.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Wind—Onshore 8.1 10.6 9.0 4.0 4.2 2.9 1.6 1.3 1.1 0.9 1.3 0.9 
			 Wind—Offshore 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.4 0.8 
			 Biomass 1.5 2.4 3.0 3.4 3.2 2.6 1.9 1.8 2.2 1.8 1.8 1.9 
			 Fuel Cells 0.4 0.5 1.1 1.3 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.7 1.4 
			 Nuclear (see Note 2) 93.6 85.5 76.9 28.4 21.7 21.4 17.6 14.2 16.8 16.8 16.4 16.7 
			 Clean Coal 7.4 6.8 12.0 8.0 7.8 6.9 3.1 2.9 2.5 4.3 4.4 4.5 
			 Combined Heat and Power 0.3 9.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.9 2.5 2.8 3.0 
		
	
	Notes
	1. Separate research programmes do not yet exist for hydrogen conversion technologies or combined-cycle gas.
	2. Of DTI's total spend on nuclear R&D given above, about £15 million annually is on fusion research; there is. also some additional expenditure in support of Meteorological Office emergency response arrangements which currently accounts for approximately £2.1 million. Fusion expenditure for 2003–04 is £15.6 million. The Research Councils expenditure on fission was ca 300k pa in 2001–2 and 2002–3. In addition, £5 million has also been earmarked for fission research but has not yet been awarded.
	3. The table sets out identified Government spend and excludes, for example, spending by Research Councils. Spending by relevant publicly owned utilities could not be separated in the manner requested without disproportionate cost.
	4. DTI's sustainable energy R&D programme also includes support for activitieswhich are not technology specific, for example, export, commercialisation, marketing and international activities.
	5. For combined heat and power, Govewrnment expenditure is through DEFRA.
	
		Payment appropriations from EC Budget to Euratom and to the European Commission's joint research centre 1991–2003 -- Euro million
		
			  1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			  
			  
			 JRC 261 257 257 269 240 234 232 236 243 259 249 250 n/a 
			 Euratom - - - - 156 235 261 176 426 173 187 200 86 
		
	
	Notes
	1. EC budget payments to Euratom began in 1995.
	2. Euratom spending. Figures are based on payment appropriations in the available EC budget documents for 2001–2003 and reflect spending on the specific programme (Euratom) for research and training in the field of nuclear energy.
	3. The main Euratom activities fall under budget titles 6 (Energy and Transport) and 8 (Research), as well as some external actions lines. The figures presented are based on payments made.
	4. Nuclear expenditure currently accounts for approximately 28 per cent. of the JRC's budget.
	My Department annually pays the UK's assessed contributions to the Regular Budget and to the Technical Co-operation Fund of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These are as follows:
	
		Annual payments to the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1995—2004(18)
		
			   £ million 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1995 Regular Budget Subscription 8.0 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 1.9 
			 1996 Regular Budget Subscription 9.1 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.2 
			 1997 Regular Budget Subscription 7.7 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.3 
			 1998 Regular Budget Subscription 6.0 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.5 
			 1999 Regular Budget Subscription 6.1 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.3 
			 2000 Regular Budget Subscription 6.3 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.4 
			 2001 Regular Budget Subscription 6.6 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.6 
			 2002 Regular Budget Subscription (19)7.5 
			  Technical Co-operation Fund 2.5 
			 2003 Regular Budget Subscription 8.0 
			 2004 Regular Budget Subscription (20)7.6 
			  Technicial Co-operation Fund (20)2.3 
		
	
	(18) Comparable figures for years before 1995 are unavailable.
	(19) Corrected figure Hansard 16 January 2003: col. 792W.
	(20) Provisional
	In addition to the regular annual payments, my Department has made additional small voluntary contributions, which are summarised annually as follows.
	
		Voluntary contributions to the IAFA from 1999—2003(21)
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 1999 0.2 
			 2000 0.1 
			 2001 0.3 
			 2002 0.5 
			 2003 (22)0.8 
		
	
	(21) Comparable figures for years before 1999 are unavailable.
	(22) Provisional

European Constitution

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the United Kingdom's policy is in the negotiations on the new European Constitution on the integration and scope of Euratom within the Constitution's framework.

Stephen Timms: The Convention on the Future of Europe proposed that the Euratom Treaty should remain separate from a new Constitutional Treaty for the EU. The Government was content with this as a basis for discussions in the context of the negotiations at the IGC. During the negotiations, a draft Protocol was considered which would be annexed to the new Constitutional Treaty, incorporating some of its institutional and financial provisions into the Euratom Treaty. As the IGC did not reach final agreement at the December Council, the Irish Presidency are now looking at how to take negotiations forward and will be reporting back at the Spring Council.

European Standard Funds

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will publish the mid-term verification of additionality document on the European Standard Funds submitted by her Department to the European Commission.

Jacqui Smith: There is no requirement and therefore no intention to publish the mid-term additionality verification documents produced by DTI for the UK Objective 1 areas.
	The verification data supplied to the Commission for the mid-term additionality exercise showed that average annual expenditure in the period 2000–02 was equal to or better than that forecast in the 2000–06 ex-ante tables published in the original Single Programming Documents for each Objective 1 area.

Flexible Working

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to ensure that workers who take up flexible working options do not suffer from (a) poor career prospects and (b) poor job security

Gerry Sutcliffe: According to the Labour Force Survey Spring 2003, 5.5 million employees work through some form of flexible working arrangement—equivalent to 22 per cent. of employees.
	The Department surveyed employers and employees on work-life balance in January 2003, and specifically addressed the issues of job security and progression:
	The study of employers revealed that they largely reject the notion that flexible working can have an adverse impact on an employee's chances of promotion. Three-quarters (74 per cent.) of employers agreed that people who work flexibly are just as likely to be promoted as those that do not, while 15 per cent. neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know. The study of employees has only preliminary findings currently available, which can be found on the Internet (www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/). We expect to publish the full report soon.
	The Government are seeking to affect a culture change in the workplace where flexible working is seen as the norm and there is no question of poor career prospects or job security. We are looking to do this in two main ways:
	Through the DTI's Work-Life Balance Campaign we are encouraging employers to offer flexible working opportunities across the workforce. In April 2003 a new law giving parents the right to request flexible working was introduced, placing a statutory duty on employers to consider the request seriously. This was targeted legislation for parents of young and disabled children as they face particular challenges.
	The DTI is collecting evidence from a number of sources to monitor the impact of its action to promote flexible working practices:
	We continue to work with key intermediaries, such as Working Families and Maternity Alliance, who are collating data through member/supporter surveys. The Department has commissioned questions specifically relating to job security and progression which currently appear in the Office of National Statistics' Omnibus survey. The results of these are due in spring 2004. To provide a direct comparison over time, it is planned that both Work-Life Balance surveys will be repeated in 2005.
	The information collected will contribute towards the review of the flexible working law that the Government have said will begin in 2006. This provides time for the legislation to bed down and have effect, alongside the on-going promotion of best practice. Collected information will also provide early warning of any problems or unintended consequences associated to flexible working and for the development of future policy.

Flexible Working

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how her Department plans to promote flexible working, with particular reference to male workers.

Gerry Sutcliffe: In addition to the detail I provided in my answer to my hon. Friend on 5 December 2003, Official Report, column 446W, I can confirm that as part of the on-going awareness raising campaign, adverts specifically targeting fathers are appearing in national newspapers throughout January, covering news and sport sections, with another burst of activity planned for March.
	The Work-Life Balance Challenge Fund has also recently supported projects promoting flexible working in oil and engineering companies, which are traditionally considered to be male dominated industrial sectors.

Friction Dynamex

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received following (a) the dismissal of workers at Friction Dynamex and (b) their failure to receive money awarded to them by the industrial tribunal; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Throughout the dispute at Friction Dynamics and the subsequent tribunal process representations have been received on a number of issues from the TUC, the workers involved, the T&G union representing the workers, other interested unions, MPs and individuals.

Graffiti

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research her Department has carried out into the use of washable solvents in aerosol paint sprays as a means of combating graffiti.

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.
	No such research has been carried out.

Industrial Disease

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of claims that could be lodged for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: As of 4 January 2004, we have received over 383,000 claims and these continue to come in at a rate of around 8,000 per week. If it continued at the present rate, the level of claims will reach approximately 480,000.

Industrial Tribunals

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers who won their cases, since 1997, at industrial tribunals have failed to receive payments awarded; what sums have been defaulted upon in each case; what steps she is taking to resolve the problem; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I regret that the information requested is not available. Individuals who do not receive sums awarded to them by employment tribunals are entitled to enforce those awards through the civil courts.

Iraq

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made since September on negotiations with the European Commission to reinstate the Generalised System of Preferences in Iraq.

Mike O'Brien: The UK has continued to make representation to the European Commission on Iraq's eligibility under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), conveying the UK Government's wish to re-instate GSP in Iraq as soon as possible. The UK will continue to press for progress on this matter. DG Trade in the Commission have indicated their agreement of the importance of re-establishing GSP in Iraq as soon as possible.
	With Iraq, the situation remains the same and a suitable body to take responsibility for the necessary administration of GSP has still to be identified.

Local Newspapers

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of regional and local newspapers are owned by the five largest newspaper groups; and what proportion were owned by those groups in (a) 1990 and (b) 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: This information cannot be provided from official statistics. However, some industry statistics relating to the question are available through the Newspaper Society.

Manufacturing Advisory Service

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the work of the Manufacturing Advisory Service within Coventry and the West Midlands since it was established; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure more manufacturers engage with their local MAS centres.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 12 January 2004
	Since its launch in September 2002, the Manufacturing Advisory Service's regional centre in the West Midlands has achieved considerable success as a source of advice and support for manufacturers. It has responded to 2,377 inquiries from firms seeking advice, visited 895 companies to carry out initial health checks and completed 395 in depth consultancies in the West Midlands. It has worked with 88 companies in Coventry and 200 in the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Link catchment area, accounting for 4.3 per cent. and 9.9 per cent. respectively of the total number of manufacturers it has engaged with.
	All the regional centres of the service have active programmes for marketing their services to local manufacturing firms. This, combined with the excellent reputation that the service has achieved among manufacturers, has resulted in a sustained and substantial increase in demand for its services. So far the MAS has dealt with approximately 15,500 inquiries and carried out over 4,500 diagnostic and advisory visits. The actual total value added it has given UK manufacturers is now approaching £30 million.

Ofgem

David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what happens to the money raised in fines levied by Ofgem from power companies found guilty of erroneously transferring customers.

Stephen Timms: Section 59(10) of the Utilities Act 2000 requires that any sums received by Ofgem following the imposition of a financial penalty should be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Photovoltaic Cells

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of photovoltaic cells (a) currently in use in the UK and (b) which will be in use in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006 and (iii) 2007.

Stephen Timms: Installed capacity at the end of 2002 was 4.14MW. Figures for 2003 are not yet available, but we expect capacity to have increased to around 6MW. By the end of the first phase of the Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme in 2005–06, we would expect that to have increased to between 12 and 15 MW. Predictions beyond that timescale are much less certain.

Photovoltaic Cells

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants are available to promote the use of photovoltaic cells by (a) industry and commerce and (b) domestic consumers; and how much has been paid in grants in each case in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Stephen Timms: The £20 million first phase of the Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme is open to all applicants, including industry, commerce and domestic consumers. The programme was launched in April 2002, and in the first year, £428,000 was paid out in grants to small-scale applicants (Stream 1, less than 5kW each). However, total grant committed was £1,220,000 for Stream 1 and £5,610,000 for Stream 2 (group housing and medium/large-scale non-residential buildings). There is normally a delay of three to 12 months between applications being approved and the PV systems being installed, depending on size.
	So far during the second year of the programme, £730,000 of grants have been paid out for Stream 1 and £260,000 for Stream 2. Grants committed in the second year to end December are £1,700,000 for Stream 1 and £5,300,000 for Stream 2. Under Stream 1, about 70 per cent. of grants are going to domestic consumers, and about 6 per cent. to small and medium-sized enterprises. Under Stream 2, about 10 per cent. of grants have gone to industry and commerce.

Post Offices

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) urban and (b) rural post offices there are in each constituency; and how many post offices in each (i) constituency and (ii) region (A) have closed and (B) are expected to close as part of the Government's modernisation of the post office network.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 12 January 2004
	Post Office Ltd. produces lists, updated annually, of post offices, classified as urban or rural, in each parliamentary constituency. The most recent list showing the position as at the end of April 2003 is available in the Library of the House. Post Office Ltd. expects that up to 3,000 urban sub post offices could close under the network reinvention programme but there is no list and the precise number of closures under the programme will not be known until it ends.
	Final decisions on post office closure arrangements are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked its Chief Executive to respond directly to the hon. Member on the number of closures under the urban reinvention programme.

Post Offices

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-post offices in Scotland have been scheduled for closure by the Post Office under the Network Reinvention Scheme in each of the last four months, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Stephen Timms: Proposals put out to consultation for, and subsequent decisions on post office closures under the urban reinvention programme are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Post Offices

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which sub-post offices in Scotland scheduled for closure under the Network Reinvention Scheme remained open following public consultation on the proposal.

Stephen Timms: Decisions on post office closure proposals under the urban reinvention programme following public consultation are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Power Cuts (Yorkshire)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many power cuts there have been in (a) the area for which Yorkshire Electricity provides power and (b) Haltemprice and Howden in each of the last five years; and what estimate she has made the cost to local businesses in each case.

Stephen Timms: Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Ltd. have advised that the number of interruptions affecting one or more customers per annum are as follows:
	
		
			  (a) Yorkshire Electricity area (b) Haltemprice and Howden (including surrounding areas) 
		
		
			 1999 10,430 429 
			 2000 10,995 438 
			 2001 11,549 486 
			 2002 13,581 446 
			 2003 12,109 417 
		
	
	In 1999, Ofgem estimated that the value of each undelivered MWh of electricity represented around £3,000 in lost output to the economy. Quantifying the loss to a local area would be very difficult since it would be necessary to establish the monetary loss to each business on each occasion.

Strikes (Dismissal)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers have been dismissed after striking for longer than eight weeks in each year since 1997; and which companies were involved in each case.

Gerry Sutcliffe: This information is not collated in official statistics. Protections were established by the Employment Relations Act 1999 against unfair dismissal for striking workers for an eight-week period from the start of official, lawfully organised industrial action. Only one case that we are aware of, that of Mr J. Davies v. Friction Dynamics, has arisen under the jurisdiction and an employment tribunal found in favour of the workers. Analyses by the Office of National Statistics suggest that over a three-year period 93 per cent. of strikes lasted less than eight weeks.

Tax Avoidance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will bring forward legislation preventing auditors from selling tax avoidance schemes to their audit clients.

Gerry Sutcliffe: No. The Government concluded in January 2003, in the light of the Report of the Coordinating Group on Audit and Accounting Issues, that standards on auditor independence, including on the provision of non-audit services to audit clients, should be set by the Auditing Practices Board (APB). The Government invited the APB to look in particular at the provision of a number of non-audit services including taxation services. Following this, the APB published a consultation paper, "Draft Ethical Standards for Auditors", in November 2003. Paragraphs 4.40 to 4.52 of the consultation paper and paragraphs 51 to 66 of draft Ethical Standard 5 address the provision of tax services by audit firms to their audit clients. In addition, the revised Combined Code on Corporate Governance, published by the Financial Reporting Council in July 2003, places on the audit committee in a listed company responsibility for developing and implementing policy on the engagement of the external auditor to supply non-audit services.

Uzbekistan

Alice Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on trade relations with Uzbekistan since 2001.

Mike O'Brien: The UK's trade with Uzbekistan is at a relatively low level. Bilateral trade totalled £36 million in 2002. Uzbekistan is a difficult market for exporters and investors. The Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council (UBTIC) meets annually to discuss issues related to the development of bilateral trade.

World Trade

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1) what discussions she has had since 17 September 2003 with (a) the World Trade Organisation, (b) the European Commission and (c) the United States about the use of special and differential treatment;
	(2)  what progress has been made with the establishment of an expert working group on special and differential treatment to report to the General Council of the World Trade Organisation.

Mike O'Brien: It is important that WTO rules more fully reflect different WTO members' implementation capacities and stages of development. We are therefore disappointed at the lack of progress which has been made in addressing special and differential treatment issues post-Doha.
	We had hoped to see agreement in Cancun to at least an initial package of measures, however limited, which might then have opened the way to a wider dialogue on special and differential treatment within the WTO, perhaps through the creation of an expert working group. In the event, no such package of measures was agreed and no progress made on establishing a wider dialogue, through an expert working group or otherwise.
	We will continue to press the case for appropriate special and differential treatment within the WTO system with all relevant interlocutors.

HEALTH

Agency Staff

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated cost to the NHS of timesheet fraud by agency staff was in each of the last six years.

John Hutton: Estimated figures of timesheet fraud by agency staff across the whole national health service are not available. The Counter Fraud and Security Management Service has, however, investigated cases of timesheet fraud committed by both bank and agency staff that have resulted in 33 criminal prosecutions. Information will be sent to the NHS in England and Wales on how to improve systems and stop the fraudulent practices.

Animal Insulin

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the continuing availability of animal insulin;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the difference in cost to the NHS of prescriptions of animal insulin as compared to GM insulin per 1,000 prescriptions;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the benefits of GM insulin as against animal insulin.

Rosie Winterton: There are two companies supplying animal insulin in the United Kingdom. The Department is in regular contact with these companies and both have confirmed that they will continue to supply animal insulin for the foreseeable future.
	There has been no assessment or forecast made of the difference in cost of prescriptions of animal and genetically modified insulin per 1,000 prescriptions. However, the table shows the number of prescription items that were dispensed in the community in England, and their cost, in the 12 months ended June 2003 and the average net ingredient cost per item.
	
		Number of prescription items, net ingredient cost and average net ingredient cost per item of insulins that were dispensed in the community in England for the 12 months ending June 2003
		
			  Number of prescription items (£000) Net ingredient cost (£000) Average net ingredient cost per item (£) 
		
		
			 Highly purified animal 128.1 4,217.2 32.92 
			 Human sequence (GM insulin) 3,522.0 150,528.8 42.74 
			 All insulins 3,650.0 154,746.0 42.40 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The data are from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system which covers all prescription items that are dispensed in the community in England. This does not include drugs dispensed in hospitals or private prescriptions.
	2. Insulins are those defined in the British National Formulary (BNF) paragraph 6.1.1, "Insulins". Insulin drugs have been grouped into highly purified animal and human sequence (GM) insulin in line with the British National Formulary (BNF)
	3. Doctors write prescriptions on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item. The net ingredient cost refers to the cost (which the dispenser is reimbursed) of the drug before discounts and does not include drugs dispensed in hospitals or private prescriptions.

Choice and Plurality Policies

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the percentage of patients on waiting lists who will accept the offer of an alternative provider under the Choice and Plurality policies; and what assessment he has made of the capacity available to meet the demand.

John Hutton: All strategic health authorities have completed robust plans for the implementation of choice for patients waiting six months for elective surgery during April 2004 to December 2005. The plans anticipate that some 85,000 patients who have waited over six months will accept the choice of moving to another hospital for further treatment. From December 2005, choice will be offered at general practitioner referral, benefiting 10 million patients each year.

Choice and Plurality Policies

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether alternative medicine will be available to patients within the NHS under the Choice and Plurality policies.

John Hutton: The need to develop a framework for access to complementary medicines was raised by the task groups in the National Consultation on Choice, Equity and Responsiveness. This suggestion will need further exploration and development and the Department will bring forward proposals for action in 2004.

Civil Servants (Disabilities)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in meeting targets for the proportion of people with disabilities in senior posts in his Department.

Rosie Winterton: The latest staffing data, as at 1 April 2003, shows that in the Department and its agencies there are nine senior civil servants who have declared that they have a disability. This represents 2.4 per cent. of the total number of senior civil servants in the Department on that date.
	Statistical information about senior civil servants with disabilities is available on the Civil Service Statistics website at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics/documents/pdf/disability-oct03.pdf.
	This information is also available in the Library.

Paediatric Continence

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what research has been conducted on links between bowel and bladder problems in children and child abuse;
	(2)  how many parents have been (a) accused of and (b) admitted to abuse of their child as a result of nocturnal enuresis or daytime wetting;
	(3)  what research the Department has conducted into the prevalence of continence conditions in (a) children of offenders, (b) children in care, (c) children of asylum seekers and (d) children in lower socio-economic groups;
	(4)  which primary care trusts have dedicated paediatric continence services.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department of Health has not commissioned any recent research on links between bowel and bladder problems in children and child abuse.
	Data on the number of parents accused, and admitting to abuse of their children as result of enuresis are not collected centrally.
	A study published in 1997, based on data from the national study of health and growth, found that a father's social class was associated with enuresis only in girls, with a higher prevalence in those whose fathers were manual workers.
	"Good practice in continence services", issued by the Department in April 2000, provides guidance to primary care trusts (PCTs) on continence services. This includes that PCTs should have specialist continence services in place, which provide patients with an individual assessment of their needs. Provision of these services in England is a matter for PCTs, which are responsible for determining the level of services required to meet the needs of their local populations. The Department does not monitor provision in this level of detail.
	Toilet training for children is considered in the Department of Health guide, "Birth to Five", available free to first time mothers and at www.doh.gov.uk/birthtofive/. The Department has not commissioned any recent research on toilet training for children.

Continuing Care

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the delay in publishing the Continuing Care (National Health Service Responsibilities) Directions 2003.

Stephen Ladyman: As a result of amendments made to the Delayed Discharges (Continuing Care) Directions in response to external consultation with key stakeholders, the Continuing Care (National Health Service Responsibilities) Directions required consequential amendments, and further consultation. This has delayed the expected date of publication.

Dementia

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with dementia live in residential care (a) in Cambridgeshire and (b) in England; and how many people with dementia in residential care are funded by the NHS.

Stephen Ladyman: There were 160 adults aged 18 and over with dementia receiving residential care in Cambridgeshire and an estimated 16,000 in England in 2001–02.
	Information on the number of people with dementia in residential care funded by the national health service is not available.

Departmental Job Losses

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the results of the Executive Agency review into job losses in his Department will be published.

John Hutton: The Department's review of its arm's length bodies will take place in the first half of 2004 and will cover executive non-departmental public bodies and special health authorities as well as executive agencies. No decision has yet been taken on publication of the results of the review.

Departmental Staff

Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of staff employed within his Department are over 55 years of age; and what (a) number and (b) percentage of staff recruited over the last 12 months are over 55 years of age.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is as follows:
	Percentage of staff over 55 years of age: 7.26
	Number of staff over 55 years of age: 378
	Percentage of staff over 55 years of age recruited over the past 12 months: 3.52
	The Department has implemented the recommendations of the Government's "Winning the Generation Game" report. Equality of opportunity for all staff is a key feature of the Department's employment policy. There are no age barriers to employment and retirement age is determined on business needs only.

Drug Prices

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what figure has been used by his Department in calculating drug price inflation in each of the last six years.

John Hutton: The figures that reflect drug price inflation in each of the last six years are shown in the table.
	
		
			  Percentage growth due to price 
		
		
			 1997–98 4.60 
			 1998–99 3.87 
			 1999–2000 7.94 
			 2000–01 1.74 
			 2001–02 2.17 
			 2002–03 6.26

Drug Prices

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total NHS drugs bill was in each of the last six years.

John Hutton: The total National Health Service drug spend for the last six years is shown in the tables.
	
		£ million
		
			 Cash Primary Care HCHS Total Drug Spend 
			 Year Gross outturn Net outturn outturn Gross Outturn Net Outturn 
		
		
			 1997–98 4,107 4,085 1,088 5,195 5,173 
			 1998–99 4,356 4,339 1,211 5,567 5,550 
			 1999–2000 4,851 4,833 1,369 6,220 6,202 
			 2000–01 5,168 5,161 1,530 6,698 6,691 
			 2001–02 5,559 5,552 1,740 7,298 7,292 
			 2002–03 6,217 6,209 2,013 8,230 8,222 
		
	
	Note:
	Cash Figures:
	1. Primary care figures include amounts paid to pharmacy and appliance contractors by the PPA and amounts authorised for dispensing doctors and personal administration in England, for financial years April to March. The data do not cover costs for drugs dispensed in hospital, drugs prescribed in hospitals but dispensed in the community or private prescriptions. Note, Primary Care actual drug cost = Net ingredient cost + VAT + container costs—discount allowance.
	2. Primary Care NET figures include Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) receipt savings.
	3. Hospital and Community Health Services expenditure on drugs includes medical gases.
	Source:
	NB. Resource figures have been available only for the last three years.
	
		£ million
		
			 Resource Primary Care DrugSpend HCHS Total Drug Spend 
			 Year Gross outturn Net outturn outturn Gross Outturn Net Outturn 
		
		
			 2000–01 5,160 5,158 1,530 6,690 6,688 
			 2001–02 5,714 5,707 1,740 7,454 7,447 
			 2002–03 6,349 6,344 2,013 8,362 8,357 
		
	
	Note:
	Resource Figures
	1. The total actual cost of drugs and appliances prescribed by GP/Nurses within England plus any central budget expenditure or locally authorised payments.
	2. Primary Care NET figures include Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) receipt savings.
	3. Hospital and Community Health Services expenditure on drugs includes medical gases.
	4. 2002–03 figures are provisional and are still to be confirmed with accounts.
	Source:
	PPA England
	NB. Resource figures have been available only for the last three years.

Emergency Readmissions

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of discharged patients aged 75 years and over were readmitted within one month as emergencies in each quarter since 1997.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department collects information on emergency re-admissions to hospital within 28 days of discharge. Between 1997 and 2002, this information was collected for those patients aged 75 and over.
	Monitoring information is now collected on an all ages basis to avoid perverse incentives that could lead to older people being denied care in hospital when this is necessary.
	The information requested is shown in the tables.
	
		
			 Financialyear Quarter Number of people aged 75 and over discharged from hospital Number of people aged 75 and over readmitted as an emergency within 28 days of discharge Rate of 28 day emergency readmission for people aged over 75 (%) 
		
		
			 2003–04 Q2
			 2003–04 Q1
			 2002–03 Q4
			 2002–03 Q3
			 2002–03 Q2
			 2002–03 Q1
			 2001–02 Q4 437,034 31,493 7.2 
			 2001–02 Q3 429,124 31,427 7.3 
			 2001–02 Q2 422,143 30,083 7.1 
			 2001–02 Q1 408,817 29,878 7.3 
			 2000–01 Q4 409,335 31,538 7.7 
			 2000–01 Q3 411,137 29,896 7.3 
			 2000–01 Q2 406,761 28,820 7.1 
			 2000–01 01 390,010 28,735 7.4 
			 1999–2000 Q4 377,277 28,611 7.6 
			 1999–2000 Q3 368,244 26,523 7.2 
			 1999–2000 Q2 368,329 26,758 7.3 
			 1999–2000 Q1 346,079 26,702 7.7 
			 1998–99 Q4 365,801 29,933 8.2 
			 1998–99 Q3 361,266 29,110 8.1 
			 1998–99 Q2 357,275 28,839 8.1 
			 1998–99 Q1 342,787 29,213 8.5 
			 1997–98 Q4 343,170 24,435 7.1 
			 1997–98 Q3 335,188 23,771 7.1 
			 1997–98 Q2 333,781 22,385 6.7 
			 1997–98 Q1 326,996 23,557 7.2 
			 1996–97 Q4 339,389 23,625 7.0 
		
	
	
		
			 Financialyear Quarter Number of people of all ages discharged from hospital Number of people of all ages readmitted as an emergency within 28 days of discharge Rate of 28 day emergency readmission for people of all ages (%) 
		
		
			 2003–04 Q2 2,405,479 131,981 5.5 
			 2003–04 Q1 2,402,573 135,153 5.6 
			 2002–03 Q4 2,501,481 138,742 5.5 
			 2002–03 Q3 2,429,606 131,704 5.4 
			 2002–03 Q2 2,334,696 124,176 5.3 
			 2002–03 Q1 2,313,818 125,085 5.4

Gas Price Increases

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact on the NHS of planned increases in gas prices; and what assumptions were made in the comprehensive spending review about the cost of gas and electricity supplies to the NHS.

John Hutton: National health service gas is bought on a variety of contract options, contract start dates and differing indices. This limits exposure to severe increases across the portfolio, although individual sites may have experiences significantly above or below average, largely due to timing.
	The total actual increases in gas costs for the NHS in 2003–04 will be approximately £7 million over and above the 2002–03 figure. If all gas had been bought at the highest peak prices so far in 2003–04, the increase would have been approximately £15.1 million.
	As far as I am aware there are no further planned increases in gas prices beyond usual market forces.
	In the comprehensive spending review, in 1998 and subsequent spending reviews in 2000 and 2002, there has been no special provision for inflation in gas and electricity prices. These have been covered by the general prices inflation.

General Practitioners

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) general practitioner partnerships and (b) single-handed practices have closed in (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority in each of the last six years.

John Hutton: This information is not collected. Successive annual censuses, published as "Statistics for General Medical practitioners in England", which is available at www.doh.gov.uk/public/stats1.htm, shows a steady trend towards larger partnerships with more general practitioners working in the national health service than ever before.

General Practitioners

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the need for general practitioner pay adjustments in areas not covered by the new General Medical Services contract.

John Hutton: The benefits of the new general medical services (GMS) contract are potentially available to all general practitioners. However, over 40 per cent. of GPs have opted, over a period of time, for locally agreed personal medical services (PMS) contracts. In order that these GPs can also benefit from the key provisions of the new QMS contract, it has already been agreed, and communicated to the profession, that similar benefits will also be available to PMS practices. The benefits for which they will be eligible are:
	Comparable new investment to that proposed for QMS
	Comparable investment for delivering quality outcomes
	Improved seniority pay
	Improved pension benefits
	Increased investment in and modification to information management and technology systems
	More flexible premises arrangements
	The same ability to opt out of out of hour responsibilities
	Therefore, comparable arrangements will be available to all GPs under either the new QMS or PMS contracts.

General Practitioners

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of general practitioners who will retire in the next five years.

John Hutton: Information on the estimated number of general practitioners who will retire in the next five years is not available.

NHS Land

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS land his Department is planning to sell at the latest date for which figures are available.

John Hutton: The planned receipts from land sales are £185 million for 2004–05 and £140 million for 2005–06, as set out in the Department's Capital Investment Strategy.

Learning Disabilities

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to provide earmarked funding to local authorities to (a) increase capacity and (b) modernise services for adults with learning disability.

Stephen Ladyman: We have no such plans.
	Our proposals for improving services for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers are set out in the White Paper, "Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century" (Cm 5086), published in March 2001. The White Paper announced the creation of two new funds to support its priorities, the Implementation Support Fund from April 2001 and the Learning Disability Development Fund from April 2002. Our annual report on learning disability, "Making Change Happen" (HC 514), published in April 2003, announced that the Support Fund would continue until March 2006; the Development Fund will also continue until March 2006. A copy of the report was sent to all English hon. and right hon. Members.
	In addition, over £3 billion a year is spent on health and social care provision for people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities also use mainstream health and social services and benefit from increased expenditure on those services.

National Service Framework for Older People

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place to monitor the implementation of the national service framework for older people; what proportion of primary care trusts (PCTs) have implemented it; by what date PCTs should have implemented it; and what sanctions will be applied to PCTs that fail to do so.

Stephen Ladyman: The main service development milestones in the national service framework (NSF) for older people: specialist stroke services, joined-up mental health services for older people and more intermediate care services by April 2004, and the development of integratedfalls services by April 2005, are being monitored centrally as these are specific targets in "Improvement, Expansion and Reform": the priorities and planning framework for 2003 to 2006. The Commission for Health Audit and Inspection, with the Audit Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection will be conducting a study in 2005 to determine how well the NSF is being implemented.
	Overall responsibility for ensuring that the NSF is implemented rests with individual strategic health authorities.

National Service Framework for Older People

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the implementation of the national service framework for older people.

Stephen Ladyman: Good progress is being made with the implementation of the national service framework (NSF). The majority of organisations met the early milestones putting in place the structures and people needed for implementation.
	The three key NSF milestones regarding the development of specialist stroke services, joined-up mental health services for older people and integrated falls services, and capacity assumptions for intermediate care services are included in the priorities and planning framework for 2003 to 2006 as "must do" targets. Most strategic health authorities are planning to meet these milestones. An on-going dialogue is taking place with the few who are not.

NHS Beds

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS beds are single room beds, broken down by hospital trust.

John Hutton: The data requested has been placed in the Library. The proportion of single rooms will vary from trust to trust depending on the services provided. Where primary care trusts have beds it is usually in a single hospital and where this provides mental health services, treatment patterns are likely to dictate a high proportion of single rooms.

NHS Finance

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the per capita expenditure was in each health authority in England and Wales in each year since 2000.

John Hutton: Information relating to the per capita expenditure by English health authorities for 2000–01 and 2001–02 has been placed in the Library. Information relating to the strategic health authorities for 2002–03 (the latest year available) has also been placed in the Library. Information for Wales is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

NHS Professionals

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff have been recruited through NHS Professionals since its inception.

John Hutton: A total of 63,363 temporary staff members have been recruited through NHS Professionals to date, of whom 60,463 were nurses, midwives or health visitors and 2,900 were doctors.

NHS Staff

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications to train as (a) general practitioners, (b) social workers and (c) physiotherapists have been received in each of the last six years.

John Hutton: The national recruitment office for general practitioner training collects data on the number of applications and applicants to train as a GP. It has been in existence for 12 months and holds data for recruitment to GP training posts to commence August 2003 and February 2004. These are shown in table 1.
	Prior to March 2003, information on the number of applications and applicants to train as a GP was not collected centrally. Information on the number of applicants for February 2004 is not yet available.
	
		1. Applications and applicants to train as a GP August 2003 and February 2004
		
			  August 2003 posts February 2004 posts 
		
		
			 Number of applications 4,339 4,602 
			 Number of applicants 2,373 — 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. August 2003 figures include English deaneries only. Northwestern deanery does not recruit to February posts.
	2. For February 2004, some deaneries re-advertised unfilled posts. This data is not available yet.
	Information on the total number of applications and applicants to train as social workers in England is not available centrally. However, the General Social Care Council collects information on applications made via the social work admissions system (SWAS) and this is shown in table 2. Only about 50 per cent. of all applications were made through SWAS, with the remainder made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions System (UCAS), or directly to colleges and universities. Comparable UCAS data is not available. Until 1998, data on applications was only collected on a United Kingdom-wide basis.
	
		2. Applications through the Social Work Admissions System in England 1997–2002 for the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW)
		
			  Number of applications 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1997 n/a 
			 1998 4,800 
			 1999 4,049 
			 2000 3,667 
			 2001 3,678 
			 2002 3,880 
		
	
	The number of applications and applicants to physiotherapy courses through UCAS by year of entry is shown in table 3.
	
		3. Applications and applicants through UCAS in England 1997–2002 to train in physiotherapy
		
			  Main scheme applications Main scheme applicants 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1997 28,428 7,057 
			 1998 27,829 6,589 
			 1999 26,162 6,184 
			 2000 24,849 6,077 
			 2001 21,535 5,383 
			 2002 22,629 5,683 
		
	
	Note:
	Each applicant can make up to six choices on the UCAS form for physiotherapy courses at different higher education institutions.

NHS Staff

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many members of staff have left NHS Estates (Inventures) in each of the last three years.

John Hutton: The number of Inventures permanent civil servants leaving central Government for 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 was 28, 53 and 34 respectively.

NHS Staff

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many non-clinical staff are employed in each primary care trust in England, broken down by grade.

John Hutton: holding answer 5 January 2003
	The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Midwives

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many United Kingdom trained nurses were not registered to practise in the UK in each year since 1996;
	(2)  how many United Kingdom trained midwives were not practising in the United Kingdom in each year since 1996.

John Hutton: The Department of Health does not collect the information requested.
	The Nursing and Midwifery Council collects information on the number of midwives intending to practise in the United Kingdom as a proportion of effective midwives. This information can be found at www.nmc-uk.org.

Pain Management

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the waiting-time was (a) from written referral from general practitioner to first out-patient appointment with a pain management consultant and (b) for patients waiting for elective admission where the main specialty is pain management in (i) England, (ii) each NHS region and (iii) each strategic health authority in each of the last five years.

John Hutton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Physician's Assistants

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential role of physicians' assistants in the UK.

John Hutton: The Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the role of physician assistant. The evaluation began February 2003 and will run until 2005.
	In the meantime, the national health service is developing roles similar to that of the physician assistant. These are being termed practitioner-level roles, and are designed to provide early assessment, diagnosis, and initiation of treatment, and so help improve the quality and timeliness of the care patients receive.
	The Department is evaluating the success of these roles through a series of national trials in surgery, emergency care and anaesthetics. It is planned to include primary care in the trials, early in 2004. The trials will assess the benefits of the new ways of working for both patients and staff. The assessment will include measures of improved access to care, and of the reduction in the number of health care professionals a person has to see before treatment.

Population Growth

Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the impact population growth will have on East London primary care trusts reaching their capitation funding targets in the current three year funding period to 2005–06; and whether there will be adjustments to national resource allocation policy to recognise population growth;
	(2)  whether additional health funding provided to meet population growth will be provided in advance of population increases.

John Hutton: An assessment of the impact on capitation funding targets for primary care trusts in East London has been made using population projections produced by the Greater London Authority.
	We are considering whether further analysis is needed and whether additional funding is necessary to meet the health needs of rapidly growing populations in these areas.

Professor Sir Roy Meadow

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Professor Sir Roy Meadow (a) holds a post in and (b) receives a retainer from his Department.

Stephen Ladyman: Professor Sir Roy Meadow neither holds a post in, nor does he receive a retainer from the Department.
	Professor Sir Roy Meadow was invited to be a consultant adviser to the Chief Medical Officer by Sir Kenneth Calman in April 1997. The post of consultant adviser was part of an established system which Sir Kenneth used as a means to gain advice at short notice. There were approximately 50 advisers covering different specialities. The advisers were paid an honorarium of in the region of £750 per annum. The post would usually last for three years, but Sir Roy resigned due to retirement with effect from the end of December 1998. He was therefore in post for 20 months. The present Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, dismantled the consultant adviser system. He prefers instead to work through medical Royal Colleges, specialist associations and other networks of experts to identify the best people to advise on the particular issue covered.

Public Services

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has received a copy of the report by the Royal Statistical Society's Working Party on performance monitoring in the Public Services, Performance indicators: Good, Bad, and Ugly; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: The Royal Statistical Society has called for independent scrutiny of performance data. The Commission for Health Improvement is already the independent regulator of national health service performance and is responsible for developing indicators and publishing NHS performance ratings. Ministers are not responsible for their calculation and publication.
	From April 2004, responsibility for the rating process will pass over to the independent Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection.

Respiratory Disease

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating and managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many finished consultant episodes there have been for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for (a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each strategic health authority in each year since 1996, broken down by age.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department of Health does not have precise estimates of the cost of treating respiratory disease. However it was recently estimated that respiratory disease accounts for approximately 6 per cent. of hospital expenditure, 13 per cent. of primary care expenditure and 12 per cent. of pharmaceutical expenditure.
	Details of the Primary Diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease count of Finished Consultant Episodes by region and strategic health authority of treatment and age grouping in national health service hospitals in England from 1996–97 to 2002–03, have been placed in the Library.

Sexual Intercourse

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he intends to measure the success of the Investing for Health target for the percentage of young people who have not experienced sexual intercourse before the age of 16.

Angela Smith: I have been asked to reply.
	This will be determined from the Young Persons Behaviour and Attitudes Survey.
	The results of the latest survey are likely to be available in Spring 2004.

South and East Dorset PCT

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will correct the information on the NHS website relating to bed occupancy in the South and East Dorset Primary Care Trust;
	(2)  for what reason his Department refused the request of the South and East Dorset Primary Care Trust that inaccurate information in relation to the trust on the NHS website should be corrected.

Rosie Winterton: Information on average daily bed availability and occupancy during 2002–03 was published on the Department of Health website on 11 September 2003. Final information for South and East Dorset Primary Care Trust was supplied on 2 July and no amendments were received after publication.
	Information on bed availability and occupancy is published as final data and is generally not subject to further amendment once published. Any requests for major amendments would be considered on merit while maintaining the balance between ensuring consistency in published data and accuracy.

Speech Therapy

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacant posts for speech therapists there are in the NHS in England.

John Hutton: The national health service vacancy survey collects information on the number of vacancies in the NHS lasting three months or more. As at March 2003, there were 150 three-month vacancies for speech and language therapists, a fall from 240 the previous year.

Speech Therapy

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many speech therapists are employed by the NHS in England.

John Hutton: As at September 2002, there were 5,960 speech and language therapists employed in the national health service in England, an increase of 1,090, or 22 per cent., since 1997.

Systematic Spirometers

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the availability and use of systematic spirometers in (a) primary and (b) secondary care settings.

Stephen Ladyman: The information is not held centrally.
	Primary care trusts, in partnership with local stakeholders, have the responsibility for deciding what services to provide for their populations, including those with respiratory disease. They are best placed to understand local health needs and commission services to meet them.

Variant CJD

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many recipients of blood products have died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease since 1993.

Melanie Johnson: No recipients of blood products have died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Variant CJD

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his oral statement of 17 December 2003, Official Report, column 1571, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of the donor and the recipient of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease infected blood having independently contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Melanie Johnson: It is possible that both individuals acquired variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease by eating infected meat products. While it is impossible to be certain how the patient who received a blood donation from a person who went on to develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) contracted vCJD, in the light of the case history and the research evidence, the possibility of the route of transmission eing transfusion-related cannot be discounted.

Variant CJD

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his oral statement of 17 December 2003, Official Report, column 1571, what assessment he has made of the state of health of the second recipient of blood from the donor who later died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Melanie Johnson: The patient died of causes unrelated to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Waiting Lists/Times

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for an initial referral to a consultant rheumatologist is in each strategic health authority.

John Hutton: The table shows average waiting times for a first rheumatology out-patient appointment following general practitioner (G(D)P) referral.
	
		Average (median) waiting times for first consultant out-patient appointment following G(D)P referral: rheumatology specialty: Strategic health authorities: -- England: Quarter 2 2003–04
		
			 Strategic health authority Median waiting times (weeks) 
		
		
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire HA 11.1 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire HA 9.9 
			 Essex HA 8.3 
			 North West London HA 10.2 
			 North Central London HA 8.6 
			 North East London HA 10.8 
			 South East London HA 9.1 
			 South West London HA 14.0 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 7.6 
			 County Durham & Tees Valley 7.7 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire HA 10.5 
			 West Yorkshire HA 8.8 
			 Cumbria & Lancashire HA 9.7 
			 Greater Manchester HA 10.6 
			 Cheshire & Merseyside HA 10.2 
			 Thames Valley HA 7.7 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight HA 7.8 
			 Kent and Medway HA 9.6 
			 Surrey and Sussex HA 8.9 
			 Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire HA 8.7 
			 South West Peninsula HA 10.6 
			 Somerset & Dorset HA 7.2 
			 South Yorkshire HA 8.0 
			 Trent HA 8.7 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland HA 10.4 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire HA 11.1 
			 Birmingham and The Black Country HA 8.2 
			 Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire HA 12.6 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health form QM08

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Brownfield Sites

Llew Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of the planned new communities development in the south-east is to be undertaken on brownfield sites; and if he will make a statement on criteria used in choosing between brownfield and greenfield sites.

Keith Hill: Through Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 Housing (PPG3) the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has introduced a series of tough new measures designed to meet the country's future housing needs in the most sustainable way possible. This includes a sequential approach which gives priority to re-using brownfield sites in urban areas in preference to developing greenfield sites. In addition, we have a national target that, by 2008, 60 per cent. of additional housing should be provided on previously-developed land and through conversions of existing buildings. Performance against this target has risen from 58 per cent. in 1998 to 64 per cent. in 2002 for England as a whole. In the south-east, including London, the proportion is about 75 per cent.
	The Sustainable Communities Plan sets out a strategy for carefully planned, sustainable growth which will protect communities from unplanned suburban sprawl. Much of the £610 million the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is ploughing into the four growth areas through the Sustainable Communities Plan will go into reclaiming poor quality brownfield land, or into transport improvements which will enable high density developments. For instance, the development of new communities at Ebbsfleet, Eastern Quarry and Barking Reach within the Thames Gateway all involve the redevelopment of large redundant industrial sites. However, in some cases sustainable urban extensions involving some greenfield land will be necessary.
	Detailed planning of individual sites within the housing growth areas is not yet complete and it is not therefore possible to provide a figure for the proportion of development which will occur on previously developed land. The sequential approach described above will, however, apply.

Energy Performance of Buildings

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what studies he has commissioned regarding the policies being adopted by other member states of the European Union concerning obligations on owners of larger privately-owned buildings to implement Article 7.3 of the energy performance of buildings directive.

Phil Hope: By January 2006, the energy performance of buildings directive requires the United Kingdom to oblige owners of larger buildings, occupied by certain types of public authorities and institutions, to openly display energy performance labels. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is considering how best to implement the directive, and, whilst the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not yet commissioned studies of other member states' intentions, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister seeks relevant information in due course.

GP Services (Thurrock)

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers and additional resources are available to Thurrock Urban Development Corporation (a) to stem the reduction in general practitioner services within Thurrock and (b) to attract additional general practitioners to meet the projected growth planned by the urban development corporation; and if he will make a statement.

Keith Hill: The statutory objectives and powers of the Thurrock Urban Development Corporation (UDC) are set out in section 136 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. The Thurrock UDC's overriding objective is to secure the regeneration of its area and to achieve this it has a general power to ". . . do anything necessary or expedient for this purpose, or for purposes incidental to those purposes".
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has earmarked an initial budget in the region of £60 million to enable the UDC to kick-start the growth, development and regeneration of Thurrock over the next three years. In order to access this funding the UDC's Board will need to develop a comprehensive area strategy, which clearly demonstrates how its intervention will achieve the regeneration of Thurrock.
	As part of its work, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would expect the UDC to liaise with other Government bodies and agencies that, while not directly involved in regeneration activity, are responsible for the wider social infrastructure that will influence the UDCs ability to deliver sustainable, balanced communities in Thurrock. To this end the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would expect the UDC to assist and/or influence local, regional and national social/health care providers in the development of plans and strategies that directly relate to the growth, development and regeneration of Thurrock.

Local Government Funding (Nottinghamshire)

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the grant settlement for Newark and Sherwood District Council was for each of the last five financial years, and what the provisional grant settlement for 2004–05 is, in (a) cash and (b) percentage change terms.

Nick Raynsford: The following table shows the grant settlements for Newark and Sherwood District Council for the period 1999–2000 to 2003–04, and for the provisional 2004–05 grant settlement.
	
		
			 Year Previous years grant adjusted on a like-for-like basis with the current year(£ million) Current years grant (£ million) Change(£ million) % change 
		
		
			 1999–2000 6.854 7.041 0.187 2.7 
			 2000–2001 7.041 7.300 0.259 3.7 
			 2001–2002 7.349 7.676 0.327 4.4 
			 2002–2003 7.570 7.881 0.311 4.1 
			 2003–2004 7.699 8.610 0.911 11.8 
			 2004–2005 7.830 8.065 0.235 3.0 
		
	
	During the above period, there have been a number of changes to the functions and funding of local services that have affected Newark and Sherwood. For this reason care must be taken in looking at year-on-year changes. The above table shows the year-on-year changes on a like-for-like basis over the period.

Mayor of London

Mark Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the level of financial provision estimated for the Mayor of London is for the financial years (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 is.

Nick Raynsford: The Greater London Authority will receive the following funding for 2004–05 from the Government for itself and its four functional bodies (Transport for London, Metropolitan Police Authority, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and London Development Agency):
	
		
			 Grant £ million 
		
		
			 GLA general grant 36.3 
			 GLA transport grant (for TfL) 2,224.5 
			 Police grant (for MPA) 1,123.1 
			 Revenue Support Grant (for MPA and LFEPA) 796.5 
			 Non-domestic rates (for MPA and LFEPA) 171.3 
			 LDA grant (23)326.4 
			 Total 4,678.1 
		
	
	(23) This figure is still indicative, and does not include LDA's share of the RDA performance fund.
	Funding for 2005–06 will be decided later this year following the Government's 2004 spending review which will be concluded in the summer.

Planning (Housing and Car Parking)

John Mann: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what advice was last sent to planning authorities about car parking minimum requirements for new housing development; and when it was sent.

Keith Hill: Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing (PPG3) makes it clear that car parking policies should not be expressed as minimum standards. It advises that car parking standards that result, on average, in development with more than 1.5 off-street car parking spaces per dwelling are unlikely to reflect the Government's emphasis on securing sustainable residential environments.
	The most recent advice for local authorities was set out in an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Parliamentary Statement of 17 July 2003. This clarified that the PPG3 car parking policy did not expect that 1.5 spaces per dwelling should be provided for every dwelling in all new developments. Parking needs vary and that's why it was announced in the Statement the intention to carry out research to consider how varying car parking levels can be achieved in ways consistent with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's policy on securing sustainable residential environments.

Regional Chambers and Local Authorities

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the (a) regional chambers and (b) local authorities which have an office situated outside the United Kingdom; what the annual expenditure of each was since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Raynsford: There are offices in Brussels representing each of the English regions. Some of them have been established for many years. They represent a range of regional and local interests. The lead organisation for the office and the interests it represents varies from region to region.
	The Local Government Association has an office in Brussels and there are also offices for the counties of Cheshire, Essex, Kent, and Lancashire. Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex have a shared office.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not hold details of the annual expenditure on these offices; such information would need to be sought from the individual bodies/authorities concerned.

Regional Chambers and Local Authorities

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister by what process the composition of regional chambers is determined.

Nick Raynsford: The composition of the voluntary regional chambers is a matter for each chamber. However they are designated under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 as representative regional bodies to scrutinise the plans and activities of the regional development agencies. To meet the criteria for designation and receipt of grant their membership needs to be representative of the range of views and interests within the region. The Government expect at least 30 per cent. of Assembly members to come from stakeholder groups, including representative of business, trades unions, environmental, consumer and other groups.
	The remainder come from local government, and reflect the broad political balance across the region. The selection process for membership varies from region to region.

Regional Chambers and Local Authorities

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of members of regional chambers are local councillors.

Nick Raynsford: The proportion will vary slightly between regional chambers but in order to be designated under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 as representative regional bodies must not exceed 70 per cent. of the total membership.

Regional Chambers and Local Authorities

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list each member of each regional chamber; and what the (a) political and (b) trade union affiliation of each is.

Nick Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not record such information. It is up to each regional chamber to decide its own membership within the guidelines that, for designation, at least 30 per cent. of members must come from stakeholder groups.

Supporting People Programme

Harry Cohen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) progress has been made and (b) resources have been allocated to the Supporting People programme in (i) Redbridge and (ii) Waltham Forest; and if he will make a statement.

Keith Hill: Last October, the Government announced funding of £1.8 billion for 2003–04 financial year for the Supporting People programme in England of which Redbridge was awarded £4,466,479 and Waltham Forest £7,934,650.
	The Government also announced an independent review of the Supporting People programme to gain a full picture of how the funding is being utilised. The Government have now received a report from the independent review team and are carefully considering its content. A response will be published in due course, and in time for local authorities to plan their 2004–05 budgets.

Transitional Protection Scheme

Ken Purchase: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister further to HB/CTB circular S9/2003 paragraphs 46–51, whether he is planning any consultation with local authorities on the ways in which the Transitional Protection Scheme will operate in 2004–05 and 2005–06; if he will provide exemplifications to local authorities before 1 January 2004 setting out the potential financial implications for 2004–05 and 2005–06 at an individual authority level of the transitional protection scheme; and what guidance the Government will be providing to individual local authorities.

Chris Pond: I have been asked to reply.
	Local authority representatives have been consulted, as part of the wider review of subsidy, on the operation of transitional protection in 2004–05 and 2005–06.
	Transitional protection will limit the impact of the change in the housing benefit/council tax benefit subsidy regime from April 2004. The financial implications will not be known until authorities have their subsidy claims audited, after the end of the year. It will then be possible to compare the difference in subsidy under the old and new subsidy regimes.
	HB/CTB circular S9/2003, a copy of which is available in the Library, gave an outline of the new subsidy scheme. Further guidance for authorities on how the transitional protection scheme will operate will be provided in the near future. This will provide further advice and information which will enable authorities to estimate possible gains/losses under the new subsidy system and consequently whether they may be affected by the transitional protection arrangements.

PRIME MINISTER

Civil Service (Pay Dispute)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Prime Minister what steps have been taken to resolve the pay dispute involving Civil Service employees.

Douglas Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
	Since 1996 pay bargaining below the Senior Civil Service has been delegated to individual departments and agencies. Where disputes in departments and agencies exist it is a matter for the relevant department's management and their trade unions to resolve.

Hutton Inquiry

Steve Webb: To ask the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of memoranda he has submitted to the Hutton Inquiry since the conclusion of the Inquiry's oral evidence sessions.

Tony Blair: I have nothing to add to the statement made by Lord Hutton on this matter.